DT3 Darkest Hearts
by Lamby
Summary: Dark Trilogy part 3. The Friends of Humanity begin attacking innocent mutants, as a new and dangerous craze races through mutant culture. Can the XMen stop either before the war costs lives? AU to X3.
1. Scene 1

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I making any money from, the X-Men characters. Thank you to Corrinth for the loan of Ilehana Xavier. Blaze is, always has been, and forever will be mine, so there!  
  
A/N: Okay here goes with the final part of my 'Dark' trilogy. Thanks are due to all my readers and reviewers over the past two stories, and I hope that this next one exceeds your expectations! Enjoy and don't forget to review!  
  
Scene 1  
  
Sidney, Australia, five years previous...  
  
The eighteen-year-old girl danced. Arms stretched high, red curls bouncing about her shoulders, brown eyes half shut. She lived the music as it pounded relentlessly through the nightclub. She didn't see that so many of the men around admired her as she moved, but he did.  
  
He didn't know what to think of her these days. She'd grown so much since he first met her; she was in fact a different person. Yeah, sure some of it was related to the development and complete suppression of her mutant power, and more was due to his training of her as a thief, his protégée. But he could account for those things; this was something else.  
  
A man approached her, and Gambit felt a stab of envy. He always did, though he knew Blaze could never let any relationship last. She was too scared that she might get too emotional, too involved, that her red-hot power might kill again if she lost control even for a moment. That was how they'd met, how he'd saved her. She'd been angry, afraid, and she had killed three men. Right now though she just smiled and soulfully shook her head at the man who wanted to buy her a drink. Not right now, she was dancing...  
  
Eventually, as the single, lonely bottle of beer grew warm on the tabletop in front of the Cajun, she remembered he was still there. Grinning she beckoned him to come dance with her, just tonight. He shook his head, Remy le Beau didn't dance, and while a presumptuous Aussie belle from another table came to ask him his name, he lost sight of Blaze completely.  
  
It was the early hours when Blaze and Gambit left the club, music still throbbing away under the streetlights behind them. Blaze hummed as she danced rather than walked along besides him. She had a terrible voice, but she sure could move. Suddenly Gambit was inordinately aware of how close she was to him, how elegantly her eyelashes brushed her cheeks, how soft her lips looked as she took a breath of cold night air...  
  
Remy tripped and stumbled, swearing in French. What was wrong with him tonight? Blaze didn't laugh, dropping her arms to her sides and frowning at him, concerned. It was the worst thing she could have done. Pulling her to his body in a sudden flush of adrenaline he pressed his lips against hers. How dare she be so beautiful and not be his?  
  
Blaze pulled back from her friend's kiss, confused, worried about him. Women had always surrounded him, and he'd never shown any interest in her before. In fact Blaze had become so like him herself, with many, even multiple partners but with none meaning anything really to her, just to keep her feelings for Remy as far from her having to admit them as possible. And now he dared to kiss her?  
  
"Don't touch me, le Beau." She warned as an early morning jogger ran past along the quayside, and the sun threatened to creep over the horizon. "Don't do anything you wont want me to tell you about when you're sober and don't remember a thing."  
  
"Jamais..." He muttered, meaning never, he'd never do that. Blaze didn't believe him, forcefully pushed him away.  
  
"Don't you dare start that crap on me! How can you try this, haven't you known me long enough or something? I've had a great night and now you want to ruin it by playing the drunken idiot? Get lost Rem, I'll walk myself home!" Blaze wriggled free of his grasping after her and stormed off into the electric night, shoe heels clicking on the sidewalk, tears falling down her cheeks. How could he do this to her, especially when he wouldn't remember when she spoke to him next?  
  
Feeling a complete idiote, humiliated and scared stupid that something would happen to his friend on her way back to her apartment Gambit followed her at a discrete distance. Only when she was in the building and the light flicked on in her top floor room did he make his own way back to his less sumptuous pad. The one beer in his stomach suddenly felt very lonely. He hadn't meant to act the fool, but something had changed in Blaze recently. He guessed it was all that firepower, stored up inside her, making her seductive, beautiful like fire itself, eyes glowing like candle flames, skin glowing with radiance...  
  
He'd been in love before; been so serious about a girl he couldn't think of anything else but her. She'd been his best friend, even though their 'families', their crime syndicates were at war. He'd run away from that. Could he run away from Blaze? Did things even have to get that bad? She thought he'd been drunk tonight, he could live with that. She wouldn't mention it ever again if he didn't; she had that much respect for him. He could never fall in love again like he had with Belladonna...  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Airport Arrivals, present day...  
  
Scott Summers paced the arrival lounge like some kind of captured animal. The clock on the arrivals board ticked over slowly, agonisingly. Okay, Storm had been right when she said he was leaving the mansion too early. Tsunami's flight still wasn't due in for half an hour, and then she had to get through customs and everything... Still he'd rather pace here than at the mansion with everyone glaring at him.  
  
He'd met Tsunami that spring. She'd nearly killed Rogue, two policemen and himself whilst under bizarre mind control that made her think she was a resurrected goddess. Only when the X-Men had broken that control did the slight, shy but bubbly secretary from Hong Kong realise what she had been doing. It had been Scott who'd got her to reverse the effects of her powers, drawing the water she controlled out of the lungs of the policemen and saving their lives. They'd stayed in touch ever since, always with the intention of Sun coming back to visit soon. And now they were a short half hour away from seeing each other again. He hoped Jean would approve, but he needed to get on with his life now.  
  
"Hey, man." A little wimpy voice came from by Scott's elbow. "You a mutant? You smell like a mutant. You a mutant?" The speaker, a short, hairy, ratty- looking guy, rambled on quickly, obviously nervous.  
  
"Yeah, I'm a mutant. You need help or something?" Cyclops replied quietly, not wanting the whole airport to hear.  
  
"You wanna buy some ace? I got ace for sale, good prices." The little man looked warily form side to side as he spoke, not looking at Scott directly.  
  
"I don't know what that is, but it sounds illegal. I'm not interested okay, so scat."  
  
"Please buy some, man? Only my boss'll fry me if I don't make a sale right now. It's a good price, my ace, good stuff."  
  
"Get out of here before I call security. And don't hassle me again, okay?" Scott had no patience with the dealer, scary boss or no scary boss. Chances were he's got himself in this situation anyway. The p.a. announced that the Hong Kong flight was landing now, and Cyclops forgot all about the ratty- man and his ace for sale as he rushed to buy flowers and chocolates before Tsunami appeared... 


	2. Scene 2

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I making any money from, the X-Men characters. Thank you to Corrinth for the loan of Ilehana Xavier. Blaze is, always has been, and forever will be mine, so there!  
  
A/N: Don't forget to review!  
  
Scene 2  
  
Cape Town, South Africa, five years previous...  
  
The view from the penthouse of the hotel was a spectacular panoramic feast of the city. Glass oozed floor to ceiling in the room, allowing the occupant to gaze uninterrupted all across the horizon just as the sun dipped below it. Champagne in one hand, red hair stubbornly pinned up off her neck, draped in a shimmering almost translucent designer dress and make- up flawless, Blaze smiled to herself contentedly. She could pull off this thief lark by herself. She'd just pulled off the biggest job of the underground's year so far; nothing would stop her now...  
  
A knock at the door interrupted her gloating. Expecting room service she shouted "Its open!" and did not turn from the view as someone entered behind her.  
  
"You come up in d'world, Petite. Word is you made a fortune without Gambit?" Remy le Beau didn't wait for her to invite him; he walked to stand besides her at the window. Blaze didn't know what to say, or even feel. She'd half expected him to track her down sometime, and she was glad to see her old friend. But he'd run off and left her for no good reason, and now he expected to just walk back in here and be offered champagne? She settled to answer his question instead of punching his lights out like she'd sworn to do next time she saw him.  
  
"Maybe. Depends on what 'the word' says I've been up to?"  
  
"Oh, not much specific," Gambit met his friend's eyes and smiled. "'Cept extortion of a well-known designer perfume manufacturer with an animal testing facility of dubious legality. Clever, Amie, clever."  
  
"They'd only pay me off with stock, but at a trade price of thirty dollars U.S. per bottle, twenty bottles per case, and fifty-five crates in a storage lock-up on the other side of town to be emptied tomorrow once the payment from my buyer is cleared, I've made about thirty three thousand dollars U.S. And I don't have to pay for this hotel suite, it's all from my buyer." Blaze couldn't help but grin out over the city; she'd been having a whale of a time.  
  
"An' the folder of blackmail evidence is already flyin' to half a dozen animal welfare types I'd bet." Blaze smiled up at her tall friend, he knew her too well. "Not a bridge I'd have burnt, Amie. You wont be able to do business with these people again."  
  
"What can I say, burning's what I'm good at, Remy. Champagne?"  
  
"Oui, merci. You look good, Chere, that cop of yours a lucky guy." Blaze smiled, Gambit was fishing for gossip he'd probably already guessed anyway.  
  
"I got rid of Lance the week you left with Electra." She gave him the champagne flute and topped up her own. "He was so boring!"  
  
"How long you bin drinking for, Blaze?" Remy asked as she took gulps, not sips from the full glass.  
  
"Long enough for you to have some serious catching up to do, le Beau!" She laughed as she draped herself elegantly on a large red sofa. Remy took a seat across from her, black-and-red eyes smiling.  
  
"Good job I was drinkin' on d'plane then, eh Petite?"  
  
They were well and truly sozzled by the time they hit the Jacuzzi on the balcony. What happened next didn't take much, Blaze in a chestnut brown bikini that accentuated her near-flawless tan, leaning too far over Remy to reach the third champagne bottle. Bodies too close, breath on wet skin, lips on lips. The line that Remy had broken in Sidney months earlier, the line that kept friendship from being anything else suddenly didn't even exist any more. Some part of them knew that this was all because of the alcohol, that they would hate themselves in the morning for being so weak. But right now the morning was still hours away...  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Xavier Mansion, present day...  
  
"Hello, Xavier's school for gifted youngsters, how may I help you?"  
  
"Hey Blaze its Bobby." The voice at the other end of the phone was chirpy as ever. It had been strange, really strange when Bobby Drake, his ex- girlfriend Rogue, Kitty Pride, Colossus and Jubilation Lee, with other students that were the same age, gradated in the summer and were now enrolled in various universities across America. Somehow it just wasn't the same school without them. "Can you put the Professor on, there's something I need to ask him?"  
  
"You can't go asking the Professor every time you're given an assignment that stumps you, young man!" Blaze laughed, "He's got other students you know."  
  
"Spoken like a true languages teacher, Blaze. And congrats on your teaching certificate." Bobby was laughing too, he missed the X-Men no matter what a fantastic time he was having at college. It was good to speak to someone familiar once in a while.  
  
"If I spoke like a true languages teacher, surely I've have told you off in Italian or something? Stay on the line, I'll go see if he's busy."  
  
"Blaze wait a minute? How's Gambit fitting into term-time life at the school?" Gossip from someone familiar was even better than just speaking to them. On the other end of the line, Blaze sniggered her laughter.  
  
"He's chickened out already, gone upstate on some business for the Professor."  
  
"Bet Wolverine's livid, that's usually his type of thing."  
  
"And Ilehana, but they're dealing with it. It's easier than having to give Rem counselling every time a kid comes within twelve feet of him. He just can't cope with all this responsibility." Blaze shook her head, before nodding a greeting to her employer. "The Professor's here, Bobby. Take care okay?"  
  
"Yeah you too. Bye." 


	3. Scene 3

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I making any money from, the X-Men characters. Thank you to Corrinth for the loan of Ilehana Xavier. Blaze is, always has been, and forever will be mine, so there!  
  
A/N: Don't forget to review!  
  
Scene 3  
  
Madrid, Spain, five years previous...  
  
"You've never been romantic in your life, Remy le Beau, I know, I was there! I've watched your love-starved girlfriends dream of roses and chocolates."  
  
"Oui Chere, but maybe I just waitin' for d'right woman..." He smiled at her as they walked down the busy street, dodging the other pedestrians and weaving through pavement cafes. "Maybe I... What the?"  
  
A long, sleek black car pulled across into a side street just in front of them. The doors opened and two men climbed out. The driver rippled with muscle as he slammed one oversize fist into his other palm. The passenger was obviously the one in charge, dressed in an exquisite blue suit and with an air of command. It was he who addressed Gambit.  
  
"Remy le Beau? I have heard that you are the best independent thief in the business." The man's accent was British, his eyes cold green and empty. He didn't seem to care that the street was crowded with people who might not take to kindly to a thief in their midst.  
  
"Maybe I am. What's it to you?" Replied Gambit as Blaze took up her wingman position behind his left shoulder.  
  
"Gambit, this isn't the place for business." She whispered, uncomfortable as a little grey old woman bustled past with her weekly shopping.  
  
"My name is Alessandro Jacobi. I'm a businessman of sorts and I have an offer for you, Monsieur le Beau. Crush," Jacobi spoke to his driver, "Give the good man my card."  
  
Grudgingly, Gambit took the small slip of card off the driver. It showed only the usual name, address and phone number. Gambit dropped it in a pocket as Jacobi continued to address him.  
  
"I'd like to offer you work of the most challenging variety. Take up my offer, and I can promise you a whole variety of, shall we say union benefits."  
  
"Union? Sound like a guild to me, Jacobi..." Remy's red-on-black eyes narrowed at the thought. Who did this imbécile think he was, tryin' to recruit Gambit?  
  
"You said it yourself, Mister Jacobi," Blaze was annoyed, who was this Jacobi to try steal Gambit away from her? "Remy's the best independent...He's not gonna join you now is he? Now if you don't mind, we've got reservations."  
  
Jacobi physically wrinkled his nose in disgust as Blaze spoke to him, and his reply was equally as degrading to her as he spoke only to Gambit.  
  
"Your expertise would be well paid, I can assure you. But I need an answer now."  
  
"You heard the lady, Jacobi. Gambit ain't joinin' nobody."  
  
"Fine. I'm a patient man, Remy my friend. I can wait until you are ready." And with that Jacobi and Crush climbed back into their car, and reversed back into the flow of traffic and away. Frowning Gambit turned to the livid Blaze.  
  
"Why'd them last words sound so much like a threat..."  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Xavier Mansion, present day...  
  
"And to repeat tonight's main headlines," The news channel front man spoke over the dramatic background music. "All over the country violence is erupting as the activists known as the Friends of Humanity promote attacks against mutants in an effort to force the government to commit to the mutant registration act..."  
  
Sadly shaking his head, Charles Xavier touched a finger to his temple and called out to a friend.  
  
**Kitty? A moment of your time please? **  
  
**Professor? ** The young female mutant sat cross-legged on her small university bed, work spread around her as her roommate made coffee. **What's wrong? **  
  
**I'm afraid I need to call on your services, Shadowcat. There is a family of mutants living not far from your campus. I'm afraid they are under siege in their own home by the Friends of Humanity...**  
  
**FoH? We got some of those losers on campus. Are they like stupid or what? Don't worry Professor; I'll get this family out. **  
  
**Very well. ** The Professor's pleasure at Kitty's bravery was obvious through the telepathic bond. **But do not put yourself in danger. Make sure you are not seen, Kitty, the Friends of Humanity are very dangerous. **  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
It didn't take long for Shadowcat to arrive at the street Xavier had directed her to. It wasn't hard to spot the right house on the street either, the mob was huge and in fine voice, shouting and pelting the house with stones and rotten fruit. The police did nothing; scared for their own welfare they simply contained the mob, keeping them in the one street. Past the hastily erected barriers, TV crews fought for position as they gave their pieces to camera. Suddenly nervous, Kitty brushed a stray strand of dark hair behind her ear and touched her fingers to the X-insignia on the collar of her uniform. If Charles Xavier thought she could do this, then she could.  
  
She walked back the way she had come, round the corner of the row of houses. Then, taking a deep breath she plunged through the pristine white fence of the end house's back garden. Somehow everything seemed much more peaceful on this side of the seven foot barricade. The house under siege was the fifth one along, so Kitty set off at a run through the fences, each equally pristine and tall as the first. It was ironic, Shadowcat thought, that these fences were meant to protect the families who lived in these houses. Guess they never realised they'd be trapped in if they couldn't get out the front door.  
  
Phasing through the back wall of the house, she found everything in darkness. Curtains were drawn over the windows, and the only sound was the dull thud of missiles being thrown at the glass. It was creepy.  
  
"Hello?" Kitty called softly, walking forward into the room on creaking floorboards "Anybody here?"  
  
"Stay where you are!" A male voice called out from the shadows. Kitty froze, listening. A child whimpered quietly, before being shushed by his mother. The man spoke again. "Who are you? How did you get in here?"  
  
"My name's Shadowcat, and I'm like you, a mutant. I got in through the walls, and I can get you out of here..."  
  
"We're not going anywhere!" A panicky female voice with a hint of feline called out. "This is our home, why should we go anywhere?"  
  
Slowly Kitty approached the voices, her eyes adjusting to the darkness. In a corner for the entire world like terrified rabbits, the family crouched together. They were obviously mutants, easy targets for the FoH. The woman was long, lean and cat-like with a bush of fine white hair, turned up nose and elongated ears. Her husband's eyes were scaled round the edges, and green scales ran shimmering up his bare arms. Shadowcat moved to try and see the child's face, but he just sobbed some more and buried his face in his mother's arms.  
  
"You have to leave, don't you see? Those people want you dead. You can get a new house somewhere else, or come back here later. But right now you gotta get out of here!" Kitty paused for breath and effect, watched as the man and woman exchanged glances. She couldn't blame them for not wanting to leave, what was happening to them wasn't fair, but it was too dangerous for them to stay.  
  
"Alright." The woman's sigh sounded like a purr. "We'll go. Just give us a minute to pack a few things."  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
**They were scared, Professor, really terrified. And the FoH? They were organised, they knew exactly what they were doing. When they chased us with those guns, I was sure they were going to kill us! **  
  
**You did very well, Kitty, I'm very proud of what you did. The family is safe now, and if you are sure the FoH didn't get a good look at you... **  
  
**They don't know who I am, Professor, I'm fine. **  
  
**Then I will let you get back to your studies, and thank you again my X- Man.**  
  
Kitty smiled, folding up her now broken-in uniform and hiding it in its box under her bed. Maybe it wasn't how she had imagined her first mission as an X-Man, no team, no gadgets and actually quite terrifying, but she'd really helped someone today. And wasn't that what it was all about? 


	4. Scene 4

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I making any money from, the X-Men characters. Thank you to Corrinth for the loan of Ilehana Xavier. Blaze is, always has been, and forever will be mine, so there!  
  
A/N: Don't forget to review!  
  
Scene 4  
  
Madrid, Spain, five years previous...  
  
The phone rang. Gambit answered it with his best Spanish "Hola." For a second there was no answer on the other end of the line, then a voice that was strangely familiar and eerily dangerous spoke in English.  
  
"Ah, Monsieur le Beau. I wondered if you had had time to reconsider my offer over the last two weeks?"  
  
"Non, Jacobi, I'se not reconsiderin' your offer." Gambit started to put the phone down on the crime lord.  
  
"A shame, I don't like being rejected. In fact, as most people fear what I will have done to their loved ones if they do reject me, it's been a long while since I have been turned down." Jacobi didn't sound as upset as he made out to be; in reality he seemed to be enjoying himself. "Nobody likes it when an intelligent young man is under the sway of an ignorant and bad mannered wench. Fortunately for you, I will be removing that problem from your conscious shortly. I look forward to speaking to you again when you are more your own man, Remy."  
  
"Wait!" Gambit shouted down the phone, dread filling his heart. "What you mean, you gonna remove my problem?"  
  
"I mean, my dear Remy, that your little sidekick is right now walking into a trap here in front of me. In less than half an hour, she'll be dead. Then perhaps you will be more willing to talk to me. And if not, you know what fate awaits you too."  
  
The line went dead. Gambit stopped breathing, thinking, just stood there. Jacobi was having Blaze assassinated. Now, today, Blaze was going to die. And other than knowing she too was in Madrid, he had no idea where she was.  
  
In a frantic burst of activity, he attacked the phone, punching in an international number. Three rings before a bored sounding male voice answered.  
  
"Ed? It Gambit. I need a favour. The last call into this phone, where'd it come from?" He couldn't keep the fear from his voice. He couldn't loose her, not now, not ever. Not when his heart told him they were just on the verge of something amazing...  
  
"Spain." Replied bored Ed on the other end of the line, clicking away on a computer keyboard as he spoke. "Madrid. Bye."  
  
"You gotta be more specific! Blaze'll die lest I get to her!"  
  
"Was a mobile, but the transmitter is in the city centre. I'll need an hour if you want better than that... Hello? Gambit?"  
  
The phone swung on the end of its cord, Gambit was already gone.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Blaze walked through the streets enjoying the sunshine and especially the vast variety of shops and boutiques. She hadn't bought anything, living out of a suitcase across the world it paid not to be an overzealous shopper. But it was always fun to window shop at least, and Europe was her favourite place to do just that.  
  
There was a screech of tyres behind her in the busy plaza. Blaze turned to see what had happened, but the street was crowded with Saturday shoppers. She gave up and turned back to continue the way she had been walking. There in front of her was a man dressed in black baseball cap and dark glasses. He held a revolver to her head.  
  
The hotwired motorbike slalomed through the crowds. People screamed and dived out of the way, shopping flying everywhere. Away ahead there was a sudden loud crack followed by a roar as a ball of fire emanated from the crowd. Gambit leaned far over the bike, urging it onwards as Blaze's fire diminished and died too quickly. Already sirens began to wail behind him. He had no time to lose.  
  
From nowhere a rain of bullets began, falling from the rooftops in the direction of where Blaze lay next to the charred corpse of the man who had been hired to kill her. In a movement that he was unlikely to ever be able to repeat, Gambit pulled the bike sideways, scooping Blaze's limp form up from the road in less than a second. He didn't try and dodge the bullets aimed at them, trusting to luck as he accelerated that Jacobi's marksmen would miss.  
  
When the sirens and guns had faded enough into the distance for Gambit to think he was safe, he ditched the bike, took Blaze and set off down a secluded side street. Eventually he stopped and heart pounding he put the girl down. There were faint signs of life in her yet; she stirred as he began to check her for bullet holes.  
  
"What...what happened?" She asked with her voice rough and eyes closed tight against reality.  
  
"Jacobi try and kill you, Chere. Thought he could make Gambit join him if you were dead." He sat back on his heels, confident that she was whole at least.  
  
"Feels like he managed it..." Blaze groaned. "I must have used my powers... Did I kill anyone?" There was real fear in her voice as she came back to sensibility.  
  
"You saved yourself, Petite. I couldn't ask for more."  
  
For a moment they just sat there, holding each other in shock. How close had they come to Blaze being dead? It was Blaze who spoke first to break the silence.  
  
"What now?" She whispered, her who body shaking after the exertions of using her untrained mutant power.  
  
"We run." Was Gambit's only reply.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Xavier Mansion, present day...  
  
"Whoa, this looks like fun. What's goin' on?" Logan had only gone in the kitchen to grab a soda and a quick snack. Instead he found his way to the fridge barred by a grumpy looking Blaze and a whole stack of vegetables.  
  
"The caterers called about an hour ago. The van had an accident on the way out here, and the meals for the whole school are somewhere splattered all over a road. The Professor in his wisdom said we'd manage somehow. Turns out somehow is me slaving over a hot stove for the next, lets see, four hours..." Blaze wiped her brow with the back of her arm, kitchen knife in her hand.  
  
"And before you ask, no you can't help." Ilehana told Wolverine as she kicked her heels sat on a spare portion of work surface. "I've already been told I'd be no use, and she hasn't time to train me up and feed everybody as well."  
  
"That's not fair, Ilehana. You admitted yourself you know nothing about cooking, especially if it's not over an open fire." Blaze turned her back on her friends and continued chopping.  
  
"Do you do requests?" Logan asked, squeezing past to open the fridge. "I could murder burger and fries."  
  
"No, no! You Americans know nothing about food!" Kurt appeared in a cloud of smoke on top of a stool. "What we need is some nice wurst...yum."  
  
"That doesn't even sound edible, Kurt." Logan popped the cap off the bottle with an adimantium claw. "What the heck is a wurst? Some kind of fish?"  
  
"Sausage, wurst is sausage." Blaze filled in sounding exhausted already. How on earth had she got cornered into this mess? The door opened again suddenly, surprising Blaze so her hand slipped, sending the sharp knife cutting into her finger. Instinctively she put the bleeding digit in her mouth and went to get another knife, cursing under her breath.  
  
"Everyone can relax, Gambit has returned." Came the familiar accent from the doorway.  
  
"Good," Blaze snapped across everyone else's greetings. "There's a knife to your left, chopping board by the sink, so get chopping Cajun. Everyone else out now if you don't want to be roasted alive."  
  
"All right, all right." Logan held up his hands in submission as Ilehana and Kurt made a hasty exit behind him. "Good luck, Gumbo, you're gonna need it." The door closed.  
  
"You not pleased to see me, Petite?" Remy went to put his arms around Blaze, but she ducked out of his hug.  
  
"I don't want to bleed on you," She replied, holding up her cut hand before ducking his hurt gaze and opening the nearest cupboard. "Where d'you think they hide the plasters around here?"  
  
"Here, Chere." He grabbed her wrist, wrapping kitchen towel gently around the cut and pulling her to him as he did. His voice was soft as he asked "I glad to see you anyway..." 


	5. Scene 5

TO Flamer, who doesn't like my work, doesn't like OCs and thinks I should stop writing. Get lost!!!!  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I making any money from, the X-Men characters. Thank you to Corrinth for the loan of Ilehana Xavier. Blaze is, always has been, and forever will be mine, so there!  
  
A/N: Don't forget to review!  
  
Scene 5  
  
"Shrew, in case you didn't realise, you are an idiot. If it wasn't for your abilities to 'sniff out' potential sales, I would have had you shot long ago."  
  
"Yes sir, I know sir, sorry Mister Jacobi sir..." The nervous rodent-like mutant shifted uneasily under his boss' stare.  
  
"You must push the sales harder, I have a deadline to keep. Now, if you don't mind, my next appointment is here." Flicking a button he closed the link to the protesting mutant and pulled down the top on his laptop. The door to his office slid open, and two strangers entered.  
  
"Nice boat, Ami. Very nice. An assassin could get used to a tub like dis."  
  
"Why thank you Jacques, make yourselves at home." Alessandro Jacobi smiled amicably at his distinguished guests, pointing out leather sofas and soft cushions by the cabin's panoramic window. Out to the edges of the horizon, the Gulf of Mexico oozed and glistened, caressing Jacobi's large yacht. Knowing that enjoying the view would have to wait for now, Jacobi pressed a button on a remote and went to join his guests as a six-foot screen dropped down from the ceiling to cover one wall.  
  
"I am, as you undoubtedly already know, seeking to re-issue a contract on a certain young lady's life. The fee to be paid when she is dead will be substantial, she has been an irritation to me for a long time." Pictures appeared on the screen of a lithe redhead, video footage of the girl in question playing soccer on the lawn in front of a large mansion house. With agility she shot the ball at the back of the net, throwing her arms up to hide her disappointment as the ball hit the post and came back out again. Jacobi watched his guest's expressions as they watched the video; both wore bland, emotionless faces. He did like to watch assassins at work, such interesting psychology.  
  
"Unfortunately," Jacobi continued, "She has some powerful friends, a pride of vigilante mutants backed by a powerful telepath named Charles Xavier. I can aid you, but we will need to draw Blaze away from the X-Men in order to get a clean shot."  
  
"Maybe dis is a project worth our effort, Jacobi." Jacques smiled his disarming smile again, like a shark grinning at its unsuspecting lunch.  
  
"Oh I'm sure it is, you see it isn't just Blaze I want to get rid of." The video footage continued with the redhead collecting the ball and beginning an assortment of tricks and skills with it. "There is a young man, Blaze's partner in crime for some years. I had hoped to convince him to join with me, but as things begin to whirl into motion he has lost his chance to be a legend." The assassins leaned forward in their seats as a motorbike came into the picture. The rider stopped the bike, engine idling, and removed his helmet to talk to Blaze.  
  
"Well I be a twelve-foot 'gator..." Jacques exclaimed, standing suddenly. "D'thieves' guild's prodigal son... Dis changes everyt'ing Jacobi, don't it Belle?"  
  
The female assassin's blue eyes narrowed cruelly and she flicked her many blonde plaits back away from her face in defence of her feminity. On the screen, Gambit placed a quick kiss on Blaze's hand, and received a playful clip round the head from the young woman. Belladonna, assassin and ex- fiancée of Remy le Beau, stood slowly and walked to the screen. Gambit was back on the bike and leaving the mansion's grounds. Blaze watched him go, and then went back to playing football alone. To Jacobi's pleasure, Belladonna simply whispered "They're mine..."  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
"C'mon, Bobby, don't be such a wimp." Tabitha, known as Boom-Boom, leant over Iceman to reach her soda bottle, her perfume intoxicating, her sly look as she went back to sitting next to him infuriating. The spiky-haired blonde grinned. "It's supposed to be the biggest rush ever!" and as if to accentuate her point she threw her arms up to the ceiling, throwing tiny golden firecrackers all over the room. "Oops, sorry."  
  
"Its okay, really, I never expected to get my deposit back on this room anyway..." Tabitha didn't seem to hear the hint of irony in Bobby's voice.  
  
"I don't care what you two do," Bobby's roommate Havoc announced, hands on hips. "I wanna know what this ace will do to my powers." In front of him on a small table, the three ace-delivery devices glistened metallic and tantalizing. Havoc picked one up, reaching to slap it on the back of his neck.  
  
"Count me in!" The impetuous Tabitha grabbed a tag as well, flicking the flat metallic plate over in her hand and holding it as Havoc did, needle pointing to the back of her neck. "C'mon Iceman..."  
  
"The effects are only temporary, right?" Bobby asked, Tabitha rolled her eyes; they'd been over this. Havoc nodded. "And it's not dangerous?" Havoc shook his blond-haired head. Bobby sighed, "Then I guess its all for one..." He picked up the final ace device, and gritted his teeth as he slammed the point of the needle into his flesh. The glycerine capsule was punctured by the action, the ace chemical flooded into his bloodstream and suddenly everything got very, very cold...  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx "Damn it! Ain't Cyclops got no decent tools?" Gambit threw down the spanner he held in disgust.  
  
"Well if you didn't ride that bike like a man possessed, it wouldn't need rebuilding every time you got it back here. And I don't think Xavier'll buy you a new one either, seeing as you've only had that one five minutes." Blaze teased her friend from her perch on the long bonnet of her pet Aston Martin db7 GT. "Where have you been anyway, it looks like you've been surfing earthquakes on that thing?"  
  
"Close enough." Gambit muttered, fiddling with something on his bike. It did look rather battered in comparison with Scott's own machine, even though it was so much newer. "Rogue 'n' I bin teachin' an Avalanche to mind his manners."  
  
"You and Rogue?" Blaze raised an eyebrow. "Should I be jealous?"  
  
"Maybe, Chere." Gambit replied, "Gambit didn't know you felt like that 'bout Rogue though..." He grinned as he ducked a small fireball Blaze flicked at him. "You wanna beer, Petite? Gambit know Ilehana have a secret stash down here."  
  
"And you don't mind being eaten for breakfast when it's empty and covered in your scent?" Blaze asked coyly.  
  
"Vixen won't mind, she t'ink Gambit est seduisant..." He winked at Blaze and held out a beer bottle to her.  
  
"Oh oui, et Gambit manqué d'assurance!" Blaze replied sarcastically, meaning 'Oh yeah, and Gambit lacks confidence!' Dropping her smile and suddenly serious she shook her head at the offered beer. "No thanks Rem, I don't, I can't drink anymore."  
  
"Pourquoi?" He asked, frowning.  
  
"You get the idea Cyclops has been bad since Jean died? Least his liver hasn't near-failed yet..." Blaze sighed heavily; sometimes it really wasn't a good thing to have a photographic memory. Gambit put his arm round her in sympathy as she said, "It's been months since I've dared be around the stuff, I've not been to a club to dance or anything."  
  
"Then what we waitin' for?" He gave her a squeeze and stood up. "You got ten minutes, Chere, Gambit takin' you out. You drive, Gambit won't drink, be like ole times."  
  
"What part of that plan is like old times Rem?" Blaze laughed, "But I'm not going to argue with you, it's the best offer I've had in ages, see you back here in ten minutes."  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
The twenty-three-year-old woman danced. Arms stretched high, red curls bouncing about her shoulders, brown eyes half shut. She lived the music as it pounded relentlessly through the nightclub. And for once she didn't dance on her own. Gambit knew not even making a complete fool of himself dancing like a dying chicken would repair the damage done to Blaze after he'd gone to prison trying to protect her. But maybe, if things stayed quiet and Jacobi really was gone, it could be a start. 


	6. Scene 6

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I making any money from, the X-Men characters. Thank you to Corrinth for the loan of Ilehana Xavier. Blaze is, always has been, and forever will be mine, so there!  
  
A/N: Don't forget to review!  
  
Scene 6  
  
Magneto strode confidently through the Xavier Mansion as if he belonged there. Small children scampered out of the way of the tall white-haired master of metal, and a dark haired young man Eric didn't recognised glared at him as they passed in the hallway.  
  
"L'assassin....."  
  
"Excuse me?" Magneto raised an eyebrow at Gambit as the younger mutant gave him a look that could kill.  
  
"You killed a friend of mine, Magneto. Someday I get revenge..." Memories of Electra's last wish, that Remy avenge her murder, filled Gambit's mind.  
  
"You know," Magneto spoke pleasantly, un-phased by Gambit's threats. "I don't believe we've had the pleasure?"  
  
"The name's Gambit." The Cajun snarled, "Remember it."  
  
"Oh I'll try. No promises though I'm afraid, I am getting on in years..." And with a smile as pleasant as if they had been discussing the weather Magneto continued into Xavier's office. Gambit punched the pillar he stood by, annoyed.  
  
"You think that's bad, try having him for a Godfather." Ilehana appeared from nowhere with a sympathetic grin. She tossed a cordless phone to Gambit. "Its Rogue for you." The Vixen disappeared again, leaving Gambit to answer the phone.  
  
"Hey Rogue... What you mean, Avalanche gone?"  
  
"I mean he's gone, disappeared, dropped out! How am I supposed to watch him if he's not at college to watch?" The girl on the end of the line shouted, making Gambit pull the handset away form his ear to protect his hearing.  
  
"Alright, alright! Anyone know where he gone?"  
  
"No, I checked. The only thing his roommate knows is that he was talkin' to an old guy with white hair before he disappeared."  
  
"You thinkin' the same as Gambit? It be Magneto?" Remy asked, walking hastily away from Xavier's office lest the subject of the conversation overheard them.  
  
"Maybe, I'm not sure." Rogue replied.  
  
"Okay, I tell the Professor don't you worry Chere. Take care."  
  
"Bye." Rogue listened as there was a click on the line, followed by the tone as Gambit hung up. She sighed and hung up at her end, sitting back down on her bed. Her roommate suddenly burst through the door baring a tray full if ice cream, soda and candy.  
  
"I had a feeling you'd be homesick again when you got off the phone, so I brought treats." Rogue smiled, but inside she was increasingly depressed, university just wasn't what she was expecting. Now there was no X-men duties to keep her occupied, she admitted to herself that her own feet were itching as Avalanche's had apparently become. What was she going to do?  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
"Well Charles, you really are becoming quite the home for strays, aren't you?" Magneto inquired as Xavier poured tea for them both. "This Gambit fellow seems very interesting..."  
  
"He is a good man, Eric, even if he doesn't realise it himself yet..." Charles' tone was even and passive, but the double meaning was not lost on Magneto.  
  
"Hum, perhaps for some of us it is a little late to be worrying if we are good men?"  
  
"I have to believe it is never too late, Eric, for any of us." Charles passed his old friend the teacup, milk and sugar. Rather than re-cover old ground, Magneto changed the subject.  
  
"What have you heard about a new craze called 'Ace', Charles?" He asked pointedly.  
  
"Not very much, I will admit. Cyclops reported a mutant approaching him trying to sell it at the airport. But Scott is always a law-abiding citizen, and didn't think of obtaining any for testing. And now he's off duty with Tsunami visiting..."  
  
"Ah, yes, we can't be ruining what little joy the young man has found since the tragic death of Jean Grey now, can we? Even if he is our only lead to finding the drug-dealing scum who pollute the minds of our new generation." Magneto added several spoonfuls of sugar to his tea with a twitch of his fingers at the silver spoon.  
  
"What are you alluding to, Eric?" Xavier asked, "What do you know about this chemical?"  
  
"What don't I know? Now now, Charles there is no need to start messing around in my head. I would have come better prepared if I had anything to hide from you." Eric smiled and added sugar to Xavier's cup as well. "This is a free exchange of information, you see my young charges are not so law conscious as yours. They tell me that ace is branded as a chemical to temporarily enhance mutant's powers, increase their DNA mutation rate, providing what the young people are terming a power-rush. Quite exhilarating by all accounts."  
  
"It corrupts mutant's DNA?" Xavier repeated, quick mind working overtime. "We have seen this before in recent times old friend."  
  
"Oh yes, it is just a new version of the chemicals exploited in the mutation accelerator machine." Magneto watched as Charles' face clouded over with worry. "Unfortunately as you know, the chemical's safely record leaves a little to be desired. I was hoping that your young charges away at university might be able to tell us more? Who is producing it, for example, and how?"  
  
"Why those at university? Would not some of my adult X-Men, or any of your associates, be as able to answer our questions?"  
  
"Oh no Charles, you see it is at universities the craze has really taken off, educated young people experiencing their first taste of independence, wanting to push themselves and their powers further than they ever had before..." Magneto met Xavier's eyes fully as he dropped the bombshell he had really come to deliver. "In fact I have been told that already one of your charges has suffered a bad reaction to the use of ace."  
  
Quickly Xavier infiltrated Magneto's mind, why hadn't he spotted this before? Rather than protest, Eric let Charles in, pointing him directly to where the desired knowledge lay. A newspaper clipping showing a young mutant lying ill on a hospital bed. Bobby Drake. 


	7. Scene 7

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I making any money from, the X-Men characters. Thank you to Corrinth for the loan of Ilehana Xavier. Blaze is, always has been, and forever will be mine, so there!  
  
A/N: The lyrics I quote in the first part of this chapter are by Elbow, a song called 'Red' on the debut album 'Asleep in the Back'. I thought them appropriate.  
  
Scene 7  
  
Scott flew the Blackbird, Charles Xavier next to him. Logan and Ilehana sat besides each other, his hand on her knee in a rare show of affection and support. Storm stared into space, worry clear on her beautiful face. Kurt prayed the rosary with all the hope and affection he could muster, longing that it would be enough to save Bobby. Blaze fumed, fire crackling through her hair as frightened tears ran down her face. Trying to keep her mind calm she turned up the volume on her minidisk. Long gone was the cheesy music of her childhood, instead the dulcet tones of a sultry rock group pounded through her brain.  
  
"You burn too bright... You live too fast.... This can't go on too long... You're a tragedy starting to happen..."  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Tabitha and Havoc sat uneasily in the hospital wardroom, wrapped tightly in their thickest winter coats, breath condensing on the air into clouds of thick fog. They bit their nails and fretted as they waited for Bobby's family to arrive. Iceman had never mentioned anything about them, the people he lived with; apart from the fact that his parents had disowned him when they found out he was a mutant. The mixed bunch who walked in to fill the room was hardly what they had been expecting.  
  
"Oh Bobby!" Storm cried, the first X-men into the room it was she who grasped Iceman's freezing hand as he slowly opened his eyes.  
  
"Hey Storm..." He muttered through cracked lips. "Whacha doin' here?"  
  
"The question is, young man." Xavier wheeled in to join Ororo by the bedside. "What are you doing here?" There was worry as much as disappointment in the Professor's tones.  
  
"Don't be so hard on him. Professor." Scott stood up for his young friend, taking a position stood by Tabitha and Havoc. He ignored the confused looks Boom-Boom was throwing his way. "We just wanna make sure you are alright, Bobby."  
  
"I'm alright." Bobby wriggled to try and sit up a bit better in the bed with help from Ororo. "And... and I'm sorry, Professor...I made a mistake." Abashedly Bobby met Xavier's eyes as Havoc and Boom-Boom hung their heads, ashamed.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
A little while later, as Ilehana, Kurt and Logan took their turns wishing Bobby a speedy recovery, Cyclops, Blaze and Storm joined the Professor in talking to Iceman's university friends. Both the students were uneasy to the point of bolting, they knew it was their fault Bobby was lying in a hospital bed with uncontrollable powers. The job of the X-Men was to make sure Havoc and Tabitha didn't make a break for it until they had the information they needed.  
  
"We're not mad at you." Storm began carefully, "Bobby is as responsible for what as happened as you are..."  
  
"Implying that you know it was us who got the ace for Bobby to take." Havoc snapped.  
  
"We swear we didn't know it could effect people like that." Tabitha enthused. "Bobby's our friend, we wouldn't want to hurt him."  
  
"We know that." Charles Xavier spoke kindly, blue eyes honest and true. "But what has happened to Bobby may happen to other young mutants too. If there is any information you can give us on where you got the ace, we would greatly appreciate it."  
  
"An' that'll get us off the hook? You'll not press charges or anything?" Havoc asked, thinking who were these people? And why did Tabitha keep looking from him to the guy in shades like she'd seen a ghost?  
  
"I think you have already learned your lesson." Xavier replied. "If you don't mind, I would like to use my telepathic powers to gather the information directly from your memories? It avoids misunderstandings."  
  
"Sure." Havoc answered slowly, not sounding sure at all. Tabitha on the other hand looked much more impressed.  
  
"Cool! I always wanted to meet a real telepath!"  
  
"I hope I can live up to your expectations, Tabitha." Xavier smiled. "Shall we begin?"  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
"Thank you both." Xavier finally offered, dropping his fingers from surrounding Havoc's temples. He kept his fears to himself as he turned to his X-Men. "Blaze, you may be able to help here. I have some names and faces for you to take a look over. Perhaps with that spectacular memory of yours, you will recognise someone from the underworld?"  
  
"There's always a chance." Blaze smiled grimly.  
  
"Who are you people?" Havoc muttered in awe.  
  
"The most important thing we are right now is Bobby's family." The Professor replied as Logan, Ilehana and Kurt appeared from Bobby's room. "I trust you two will help Ororo take good care of him for us?"  
  
"'Course." Tabitha said with a flick of her hand and a wink. "What are friends for?"  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
The X-Men left the building and headed back to the jet as Storm made herself at home by Bobby's bedside. Iceman was very glad of his old teacher's company, and before long as Xavier had expected the temperature in the room began to rise again. Colour began to flush Bobby's cheeks again as he and Ororo exchanged news of the school, old friends and new beginnings at university.  
  
On the way to a convenient coffee machine, Havoc finally asked Tabitha what had been bothering her when Bobby's strange family had been talking to them? Her reply disturbed the young blond haired mutant.  
  
"What, apart from all the obvious stuff?" She shrugged, "Nothin' much. Well, 'cept that you and the guy in shades, whatever his name is, well... You look really alike, Alex. It was spooky. You gotta long-lost cousin at all or somethin'?"  
  
Alex didn't answer. He was too busy trying to get his head around what the Professor had already figured out. Two boys, orphaned in a plane crash, separated as the younger was quickly adopted and the older switched from foster home to foster home as he struggled with his mutant nature. Could this strange man, this friend of Bobby's; could it really be Alex's lost brother? Was it really Scott? 


	8. Scene 8

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I making any money from, the X-Men characters. Thank you to Corrinth for the loan of Ilehana Xavier. Blaze is, always has been, and forever will be mine, so there!  
  
A/N: Don't forget to review!  
  
Scene 8  
  
The reverberating noise of the blackbird jet taking off in the rain had barely faded around the mansion as the cab pulled up by the gate and a young woman climbed out. Brushing back a wet strand of ice-white hair towards her dark brown ponytail with a gloved finger, Rogue bent to pick up her dusty bag and set off up to the door. Was this a homecoming? Or had she come to say goodbye? Should she have quit university so easily, so few weeks into the semester? Or was it a mistake she would always regret, no matter how unhappy she had been at college? Too many questions rumbled round her head. She hoped the Professor was in a patient mood...  
  
The mansion was strangely noisy as she pushed the door open. Small children charged up and down the corridors, whist older ones argued over the foosball table. There wasn't a familiar face in sight. Oh, she recognised people, but couldn't place names nor name powers. Where were the X-Men? When she needed them most, where were her friends? Where had her home gone?  
  
She stood still for a moment, unsure of her ground, before one of the school's pupils spotted her and smiled. The strange teenager, somehow so young even though he couldn't have been more than a year or so actually younger than Rogue, disappeared for a moment further into the rec. room. Clutching her bag like a weapon, Rogue gulped and walked towards the rec. room entrance. Like a saviour in a worn-out trench coat Gambit was already getting to his feet, strange eyes worried.  
  
"Hey Chere, whatcha doin' here? You supposed to be in college..." His confusion was obvious. Trying to be non-committal, Rogue tossed back her troublesome white hair and tugged her bag over her shoulder.  
  
"I dropped out. It just wasn't for me." She looked past Gambit briefly, searching for a sign of the other X-Men, the Professor, Logan, Storm, even Ilehana. She did not especially want to waste her carefully rehearsed 'so what if I'm a failure' speech on the Cajun. Where the heck where they all?  
  
"Maybe Gambit not the person to tell ya dis, but there nobody else here, so it tough. College not for you, then fine, but too many folks not get to go at all..."  
  
"You're right, Gambit. You're not the person I had in mind to talk to about this." She retorted tartly as more and more of the kids began listening in to their conversation. "Where's the Professor? What's goin' on?"  
  
"We better go use Xavier's office." Remy sighed. It was bad enough he was left babysitting this rabble without having to break the news about Bobby to Rogue as well. "You enfants not break anythin' else while Gambit gone, or there be trouble."  
  
"Anythin' else?" Rogue couldn't help asking, but Gambit didn't fill her in.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
"Oh no!" Rogue interrupted Gambit at the mention of Bobby taking ace. "We had a student die from that at college..." Panic rose in her voice as she said, "He's not, is he?"  
  
"Non, Chere. Bobby gonna be fine, Gambit sure..." He wished he could be as sure as he sounded, but if someone had died already? "Who died at your school?"  
  
"Well, its not been confirmed or anythin'. Not that it was ace anyway. But it everywhere, an' I mean that. It's too hard to pretend not to be a mutant as it is, with everyone so touchy-feely an' needy. But this ace makes mutants not hide, like, at all. Avalanche might have been the worst, but there were loads more mutants causin' trouble. An' then the FoH freaks start causin' problems for all the mutants....." Her sweet southern belle voice died out, she shrugged again and avoided Gambit's soul-piercing eyes. It wasn't just that she'd hated the course, the boring ole lecturers with no idea what was happening beyond their precious campus, she'd actually been scared for her safety with the other students. There'd been no Logan to absorb healing powers from if one of the students knifed her through the chest. She'd been threatened just on the suspicion that she was a mutant. If the other students knew how dangerous she could really be...  
  
"Gambit sure it don't sound like his kinda fun, this university. But you sure it that bad Chere? Whatcha gonna do if not go to college?" There was actual concern in the Cajun's tone, and none of his trademark teasing. His honesty threw Rogue, what could she be but honest in return?  
  
"I was thinkin' of travellin'." She admitted. "I...I didn't get too far last time I tried, got kinda side-tracked by a Wolverine. It wouldn't be forever, just till I get my head sorted out, you know?"  
  
"I know." Gambit admitted, wasn't so long since he'd been in the same mind. An image of a young girl, blond hair in thousands of tight plaits, eyes always quizzical and searching his own filled his mind and cut his sentence off short. He'd thought he'd had it sussed out once too, like Rogue when she went away to university. But you just can't predict every throw of the dice... "Best way's jus' to go, Chere. Jus' go, an' don't look back."  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
The blackbird hovered low, landing slowly and carefully. On board the Professor touched a finger to his temple, reaching out to the mutant in the cab pulling away from the mansion. Behind him, Ilehana muttered something along the lines of "No..." as she sensed Rogue's resolve. Charles Xavier echoed his daughter's feelings, right now they needed every X-Man they had, soon it would be too late and the world may well have changed beyond all hope. But even knowing this, Rogue, Marie, would not think about staying.  
  
**After school, before college... ** Forgotten words from a so much younger, so much more naive girl who hadn't even known she was a mutant... **I have to go, Professor. I'll be more use to all of you out there, doin' things. Settin' the example you taught me to be. Please, just let me go? **  
  
Ten minutes later, well on the way down the road to who knows where, Rogue finally relaxed, certain that where he would always watch over her, the Professor would not demand she remain an X-Man if her heart was truly set on something more... 


	9. Scene 9

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I making any money from, the X-Men characters. Thank you to Corrinth for the loan of Ilehana Xavier. Blaze is, always has been, and forever will be mine, so there!  
  
A/N: Don't forget to review!  
  
Scene 9  
  
"Sorry I had to duck out on you," Scott Summers collapsed into a worn out hotel chair with a sigh. "Did you enjoy your shopping trip without me?"  
  
"Uh-huh." Tsunami nodded, going to stand behind her boyfriend and rubbing the back if his neck tenderly. "Is Bobby gonna be okay?" She asked, her blue-green eyes honestly concerned. That was one of the things Scott liked best about Sun, she couldn't help be anything but honest.  
  
"Yeah. Eventually. It's shook him up bad, but..." Reaching up behind himself, he took Tsunami's tiny Asian hand in his larger white one, toying with the sapphire ring on her right thumb. "Why do you still wear the Amentha ring, Sun? I thought all that was over, all of Gareth King's lies..."  
  
"Ask Storm, or Blaze, they both still wear theirs too, or hadn't you noticed?" Oddly, Tsunami felt defensive about the whole subject. Odd because she didn't know why she felt that way. Kissing Scott's fingers she came and pulled up a chair besides him. "I guess its because no matter the downsides, we did learn a lot about our powers, about how much the elements have influenced our whole selves, whilst with Garthen."  
  
"Downsides? You mean like his brainwashing of you? His pumping you all full of G.M. viruses to give you telepathy?" Cyclops didn't mean to be cruel, but it did sound more than a little incredulous to him.  
  
"It taught us," Tsunami continued, big blue eyes demanding that he hear her out, "That no matter how powerful we get, we are still only human. No matter how strong we are, we are not Gods. Surely all mutants need to realise that?"  
  
"Maybe you're right." Cyclops sighed again. "But I wish you'd get rid of it. The whole thing still gives me the creeps."  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
With a flying leap like a cannonball cutting through the air, Blaze slammed her feet squarely into the drone, knocking it off its runners. Landing catlike she yelled out "Duck!" and threw a fireball across the danger room, turning a swinging mace to dripping molten metal.  
  
Ducking and rolling as ordered, Gambit allowed the pole in his grasp to extend smoothly. Planting it hard on the floor, he used his momentum to pull himself around it, spinning to kick another drone off the rails. Suddenly everything went quiet, the mechanical whirring ceased and the danger room became safe.  
  
Blaze grinned at her friend as he retracted the pole again and put it away in his coat pocket. She'd never been able to get the hang of using props like he did in a fight. Suddenly she frowned, noticing that the grey cotton training gear she wore was actually on fire.  
  
"Damn it!" Concentrating she called the fire into herself, putting the tiny, teasing flames out despite their protestations. "I keep asking Xavier to have these things flame proofed like the uniforms..."  
  
"Gambit didn't know you put fire out too, Chere. How long you had that card?"  
  
"I've been working on it with the Professor. It's not hard, really. When I use my power, I throw out a tendril of it to make fire. The bigger the tendril, the bigger the fire. To put a fire out, I just draw the tendrils back into myself." She frowned, wondering if that was an adequate explanation. Then, sighing, she brushed the ash that had been her sleeve off her arm.  
  
"No wonder the enfants call you the Firefly, Petite. You is gettin' powerful, non?" He brushed a fleck of ash off her cheek, eyes narrow but tender. "More powerful than Gambit for sure."  
  
"Hey if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't even be here, so don't start on with an inferiority complex." She smiled, ducking out from his touch.  
  
**I hate to interrupt your training. ** Xavier called to them both. **And I know it's been a long day for all of us. But do I have to remind you about the Governor's Ball tonight? **  
  
**Oops, I knew I'd forgotten something, Professor! And after I've spent a small fortune on my dress as well! ** Blaze responded, her telepathic voice pleasant in Xavier's mind. The telepathy imposed on her by Gareth King may have only been temporary, but she'd learned to control her mind voice very well in such a short space of time. Gambit had less control, but still more than most non-telepaths after the two theives' mind-link was broken.  
  
**We finished trainin' Professor. We be ready if you still sure it us you wanna take along to dis soirée? **  
  
**Of course, Gambit. I need mutants with a little charm and wit for this public relations exercise, and with Scott, Kurt and Ororo otherwise engaged, who else to take than Blaze and yourself? ** All three chuckled silently as Xavier left them with an image of Wolverine and Ilehana, dressed up to the nines and scowling like truculent children as they were introduced to various dignitaries.  
  
"Maybe dis not be so bad, hey Chere?" Gambit offered as they left the danger room together.  
  
"Hum," Mused Blaze in response, "In what universe is an evening in the company of politicians, especially politicians who want to wipe out every mutant born, ever going to be fun?"  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Music pounded away in Blaze's room, too loud for Wolverine's sensitive hearing. Unfortunately it was also too loud for Blaze to hear Logan's thumping on the door either, or at least that'd be her excuse later. Tugging out her dress for the evening from the back of her now bursting wardrobe, Blaze marvelled at how far she'd come since arriving at the Xavier School. She'd come here with nothing, not even the shirt on her back had survived the burst of firepower that had killed two of Jacobi's men. She'd scraped and borrowed, mostly from Storm who happened to be almost exactly the same size as Blaze, until a teaching qualification and the new term had allowed her to collect her first paycheque from the Professor. It was incredible how quickly she'd adapted from living her whole life out of a suitcase to having a large wardrobe that no longer fitted in its allotted space. Life was good!  
  
The dress hooked up on a curtain rail, Blaze shook out her mass of wet curls from the towel turban on her head, before swearing profusely in French Gambit would be proud of as the moisture fell on her precious piles of books. A flick of a finger warmed the books through quickly, sending steam rushing from the paper as they dried before much damage could be done. Blaze was thinking about the idea of Remy in a tuxedo as she began a similar trick on her wet hair. With no time to try and find a hairdryer in the mess she lived in, a shake of her hair with just a pinch of flame turned bedraggled dreadlocks into shining, bouncy curls completely without frizz. It sounded easy, but it had taken weeks of bad hair days for her to perfect the process, fortunately in the month whilst Gambit had been away or she never would have stuck out his teasing.  
  
Half-dressed, a floating fireball provided better light as she danced to her music with a compact in one hand and make-up brush in the other. The track changed, brief silence followed by a screeching guitar. Blaze squinted at the reflection in the compact mirror, trying to name the track. She may listen to some rubbish when she went out, but at home she liked a track she could play air guitar to. Heck if she was going to be bored out of her mind all night she should at least be granted the right to have a little fun whilst getting ready!  
  
Down the hall, fastening his bow tie as though was going to bite him, Remy rolled his eyes as Blaze's music was cranked up even louder. Gathering a pack of cards or two to hide in his pocket, just in case, Remy braced himself for the inevitable jokes and snide comments from the other X-Men on his appearance. And judging by the volume of Blaze's music, he was going to have a long wait to enjoy them. Past experience had tought him the louder the music; the longer she was going to take to get ready...  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
"No, seriously Gambit, if you wanted to go dressed as a penguin I could have given you some pointers..." Ilehana only teased the Cajun because she knew it was winding him up. Actually, despite his deepening scowl as he leant on the hallway wall by the side of her similarly attired father, he did look good. Very good. The tuxedo fitted well, showing off his broad shoulders and toned body and the blackness of the fabric made his red-on- black eyes only the more startling. Besides her, perched half on the cupboard like she was, Logan was almost visibly oozing jealousy as Ilehana passed her knowing eye over the Cajun. As if the Wolverine could have anything to worry about. She told him as much telepathically, but his reply was cut short by the sudden and final appearance of Blaze at the top of the stairs.  
  
It was Ilehana's turn to be jealous, not that it was an outfit she would have chosen herself. Blaze wore her endless curls pinned up on top of her head, her glistening make-up flawless. The tiny, strapless black bodice was embroidered with delicate flame-red flowers, showing off every curve of Blaze's feminine body. The skirts fell like black waterfalls of silk to float around her ankles. Dainty black shoes peaked out from under the skirts as in a rare show of shyness Blaze clutched the banister and stepped down the stairs refusing to meet anyone's eyes. Scott and Tsunami, fresh from being introduced to many of the school's children, joined the other X- Men at the bottom of the stairs, digital camera in Tsunami's hand.  
  
"Oh Blaze you look gorgeous!" Enthused the water-elemental, "Quick, the three of you must pose for a photograph! Kurt, Bobby and all the others will never believe you looked this good if you don't!"  
  
"Err, I think I will check if our limo is here..." Xavier quickly steered his wheelchair to the door, not pointing out that he knew very well that the car was waiting calmly outside for them. Ilehana smiled at her Dad's cowardice and followed him, her own camera-phone secreted in her back pocket.  
  
"Blaze, Gambit, don't be spoil sports will you?" Sun pleaded, backed up by Scott.  
  
"Yeah, come on you two. You would have done the same to anyone else if you hadn't had to go..."  
  
"Too right we would, but only for blackmail purposes." Blaze muttered, meeting her old friend's eyes for the first time. He shrugged, not particularly fond of having his mug shot taken either, and went to stand behind her, one hand in his jacket pocket fingering a card. Logan scowled and headed to the garage, knowing exactly where Ilehana's beer stash was in relation to his own stash of cigars...  
  
As soon the camera button clicked and the flash near-blinded everyone in the room, Blaze and Gambit almost literally sprinted out the door after the Professor. Scott put a conciliatory arm around Tsunami's slender shoulders as she looked at the photograph she had taken on the screen of the camera.  
  
"Hey, at least I tried, right?" 


	10. Scene 10

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I making any money from, the X-Men characters. Thank you to Corrinth for the loan of Ilehana Xavier. Blaze is, always has been, and forever will be mine, so there!  
  
A/N: This chapter has been a nightmare to write, mostly coz its so important, so I apologise if it's a little stunted. Don't forget to review!  
  
Scene 10  
  
The hotel shone out, light brightly from every angle by diamond spotlights as it exuded sumptuousness. Limo after limo pulled up outside the building, security guards working overtime as the powerful and intellectual men of America rubbed elbows along side each other. Politicians, doctors, academics and even the odd film star waved to the news crew gathered outside the building. With the troubles across the country from the Friends of Humanity, tonight was a night of great importance as those that mattered tried to show they were not afraid, that normal life could carry on regardless. In their own limousine, Gambit and Blaze, more used to skulking through the underworld than putting themselves in the public eye, were undoubtedly nervous as the car stopped dead. Xavier did not try and put them at ease, this was for them a night to put out a better image of mutants to the world. It was work, not play, and he needed both his X-Men with their minds on the job.  
  
Entering the building past the camera flashes and other Ball guests, the three mutants were all equally overwhelmed by the luxury of the hotel reception. Fairy lights twinkled in every corner, water bubbled from Romanesque fountains and the crimson carpet was inches deep. The ballroom itself was even more spectacular, packed with familiar and unfamiliar faces alike all dressed to impress. Small, even cosy round tables covered in starched white tablecloths flitted across the wide room in an arch before the dance floor. A string quartet played Mozart with passion, and on the high table a face instantly recognisable to Charles Xavier smiled almost cruelly at him.  
  
"Is that Senator Kelly?" Blaze asked her boss as the three of them cleared the doorway. She already knew the story of how Mystique had stolen the Senator's identity when the real Senator fell victim to Magneto.  
  
"It is." Xavier confirmed Mystique's identity. "I have a feeling tonight may prove every interesting."  
  
"Well, wonders never cease!" A friendly male voice greeted them. "Charles, it is good to see you, old friend."  
  
"You too, Hank." The Professor shook hands heartily with the stranger before introducing him to his X-Men. "Remy, Laura, this is Dr Henry McCoy. He's an old friend of mine."  
  
Blaze accepted a kiss on the hand from the charming doctor, internally writhing that the Professor had used her real name in public. She knew it was necessary, he could hardly introduce her to all these people as 'Blaze', but it didn't mean she was happy about it. She'd much rather not be introduced at all. Gambit shook Hank McCoy's hand firmly, finding nothing in the doctor's manner or eyes to make Gambit dislike him, only a wild strength like a beast that the calm man in front of them kept very well hidden. A mutant suppressing his powers like Blaze had done? Remy couldn't help but think that might not be so clever. Introductions over, the four began making their way to a free table, the Professor and Hank talking animatedly about current events.  
  
"Professor Xavier?" Another strange man approached them. In his late twenties, to Gambit he reeked of politics in a tuxedo that looked more expensive than it probably was, sequined cufflinks and a fake Rolex on his wrist. "Its good of you to come."  
  
"It was good of you to send me the tickets, Matthew." Xavier smiled kindly up at the younger man. "May I introduce you to my old friend Hank McCoy? "  
  
"Pleased to meet you, Dr McCoy. I find your work very interesting." Matthew offered, squeezing Hank's hand as the Professor continued.  
  
"And this is Laura and Remy, they work for me at the school. This is Matthew Cooper, he works in the Governor's office, and quite the budding politician I hear."  
  
"Welcome, both of you." Matthew greeted Blaze and Gambit with a genuine smile, before taking a double take at Gambit's red-on-black eyes. Not acknowledging that he was unsure about being in the company of mutants, the politician tried to force the conversation. "You are both teachers then? What do you teach?"  
  
"I teach languages," Blaze smiled, feeling sorry for the flustered young man. Had he ever met someone who was so obviously a mutant as Remy before? Did he even know the Professor was a mutant? "French, Spanish and German mostly."  
  
"Really? I have a diploma in modern languages myself." Matthew enthused, "Where did you study?"  
  
"I'se getting a drink, you want anythin' Chere?" Gambit cut in. Blaze shook her head and smiled at her friend's back as he made a hasty departure to the bar. For someone who lived at a school he really wasn't keen on intellectual discussion.  
  
"Paris mostly, but I did travel in my studies." Blaze responded to Matthew, deliberately not answering his question. He didn't seem to notice, plucking at his sleeve nervously as they sat down.  
  
"And your colleague? What was his name again? What does a mutant teach at a school for gifted youngsters?"  
  
"Whatever he's qualified to, of course." Blaze answered kindly, "Being a mutant doesn't make anyone less able to teach."  
  
"Isn't he dangerous?" Matthew met Blaze's eyes honestly, still thinking he was speaking only to another human. Blaze laughed melodically.  
  
"Remy? Nah, much as I'm sure he'd like to think otherwise!" She glanced over to where Gambit was deep in conversation with a young girl, couldn't she take her eyes off him for one minute without him causing problems? "Matthew, if you want to learn more about mutants, come visit us at the school sometime. I mean it, an up-and-coming politician is the type of friend us mutants could really use these days." She stood gracefully in her long skirts as Matthew did likewise.  
  
"Us mutants?" This time he was quicker to pick up on what she was implying. "You're a mutant too? But you look so... normal, no offence intended."  
  
"None taken. But not all mutants do look different to humans, the same as no two mutants are alike themselves. Can you tell which human is dangerous just by looking at them?" Blaze felt Xavier and Hank McCoy looking at her and blushed slightly. "Excuse me."  
  
On the other side of the hall by the bar table, a pretty young thing in a revealing plunge-necked blue satin gown asked Gambit what he did for a living. He was about to reply with something clever when a hand touched the girl's bare arm. Blaze didn't acknowledge Gambit at all, but spoke in a low but rushed tone to the girl.  
  
"Sammy? Your father is asking for you up at the top table. Something about introducing you to someone?"  
  
"Alright already," The girl snapped, flicking her brown hair back over her shoulder and scowling at the top table. "Sheesh, is a girl not allowed any fun?"  
  
"Why'd you do that, Petite?" Remy was annoyed. "Gambit not allowed any fun either?"  
  
"What now you think it was fun in jail?" Blaze snapped back, "Cause that's where you were heading just then, what with Samantha Hawley being ten years younger than you!"  
  
"She fourteen?" Embarrassed by his near error, Gambit watched the truculent teen ascend to the top table and begin a snide argument with her Senator- father. "She sure don't look it."  
  
"Maybe not, but that argument didn't help the barman who served her a few months back when she was done for underage drinking. Seems she'll do anything to wind her dad up, and seeing as he's about as anti-mutant as you can get I guess that's why she was hitting on you. You really got folks in a spin with those eyes of yours, Rem."  
  
"Hum," Gambit replied, slamming his empty champagne glass back down on the table like it was a beer bottle. "Seems these folks need some stirrin' up."  
  
"And it looks like Mystique has come to that conclusion too." To Sam Hawley's evil looks Blaze looped her arm through Gambit's as Senator Kelly rose to his feet. "Why can't she just keep her big mouth shut?"  
  
"My fellow party guests!" Kelly-Mystique announced after clearing his/her throat loudly to get everyone's attention. "May I just take this opportunity to thank the Governor for inviting us all to this auspicious occasion."  
  
"You can take this opportunity to naff off." Blaze muttered so only Gambit could hear her. He smiled slyly.  
  
"It is especially important in such troublesome times that we allow ourselves time to get together as it were. To discuss with others the best way forward in a relaxed and can I say spectacular environment." Kelly continued over a ripple of muted applause. "And I will say, here and now, that there is no way in our civilized society that we can allow the terrorists that call themselves the Friends of Humanity to continue to operate..." The applause died down, Xavier leaning forward in his wheelchair was avidly waiting for Mystique to make her move. The shape- shifter paused for effect as a waiter addressed Gambit in a hushed voice.  
  
"Mister le Beau?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"I have a note for you." Gambit unwound himself from Blaze's arm to take the folded piece of paper. Looking sideways at her friend Blaze spoke quickly.  
  
"If it's from that bitch Sam, I'll personally roast her alive, trying to get you in trouble."  
  
"I call out now to all mutants the world over!" Kelly's voice boomed out again. "Do not stand for prejudice and humiliation! If you are attacked in your own home, take what measures you deem necessary to protect yourselves!" Gambit unfolded the note slowly, still listening to Mystique's call for open warfare. A single pressed cutting of a plant fell into his fingers. "Stand together and America will support you! We will drive these terrorist scum back into the hole they have crawled out of!"  
  
All hell broke loose in the room. Senator Hawley pushed his way through the crowds of shouting men and attempted to punch Kelly across the jaw. Bodyguards swarmed in, Xavier and McCoy spoke hastily with Matthew Cooper, and hotel staff forgot what they were doing to argue loudly with guests. Blaze turned to take her cue from Remy, but he seemed unaware of the chaos around them, gently turning the dried plant over in his fingers.  
  
"Belladonna." He muttered, not even showing that he knew Blaze was there.  
  
"Took?" Blaze cut in, placing a hand on his wrist. He looked at her, confused. "Tolkien, you really should read more."  
  
"She an assassin; sends deadly nightshade as a sign you her next target." Gambit's voice was deadpan as he brushed a purple flower with a finger. "Gambit have to go."  
  
"Why, Rem? Please..." Blaze's panicky pleading fell on deaf ears as Gambit turned and simply walked away. "Please don't leave me again..."  
  
**Blaze? Are you all right? ** Xavier could sense Blaze's upset even as she started to run after Gambit, pushing the riotous crowds away to each side. **Let him go, Blaze. I need you here. **  
  
**It's her, isn't it? ** Blaze stopped in her tracks having lost sight of Gambit completely. Choking she fought back both tears and the desire to kill someone, anyone, but preferably Gambit. **Belladonna. She's the one who broke his heart. The one he's been running from all these years. **  
  
**I believe so. ** Xavier's mind voice was kind. **He'll be fine, Blaze. Trust me, I will keep an eye on him with Cerebro and make sure he is okay. But I need you here. Mystique's words have come at the worst time; they will incite the war out onto the streets... Blaze MOVE! **  
  
Blaze hit the deck unthinking as a bullet ripped through the air towards her. Xavier had barely sensed the shooter on the edge of his awareness in time. Suddenly with a cloud of blue-purple smoke, a familiar form appeared, wrapped an arm around Blaze's waist and disappeared again. Arguments turned to mass panic as the gathered guests realised what was going on. Crowds flocked to the doors as Xavier moved to examine the spot where Blaze had been before Kurt's timely rescue. The bullet hole was positioned exactly where her head had been after Xavier had told her to move.  
  
"It appears the shooter knew you were going to warn Laura." Hank McCoy put a hand on Xavier's shoulder. "In which case, I think it wise not to remain here any longer." 


	11. Scene 11

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I making any money from, the X-Men characters. Thank you to Corrinth for the loan of Ilehana Xavier. Blaze is, always has been, and forever will be mine, so there!  
  
A/N: Don't forget to review!  
  
Scene 11  
  
"Thank you Kurt," Blaze spluttered as she untangled herself from her friend's support. "Rescue much appreciated."  
  
"Gern geschehen." Nightcrawler replied shyly, meaning you're welcome. "But where was Gambit going just then? He look like he seen a ghost, he ran past so fast."  
  
"I think maybe he had." The Professor approached his X-Men in the alleyway outside the hotel. "Good job, Nightcrawler, though I wish I had not had to have you watching over us like that tonight. Blaze, are you really okay?"  
  
"I will be." The Englishwoman looked pale and ill. "Can we go home now please?"  
  
Relieved that Blaze hadn't asked to go after Gambit, Xavier was only too happy to oblige. Within the hour, with Blaze being fed cocoa and the essential pizza by a concerned Scott, Xavier was at work in Cerebro trying to track down not only Gambit, but also the shooter or shooters from the hotel. Gambit was easy to find, he'd been back to the mansion for his X-Men uniform, some supplies and his motorbike, before heading out of town towards the south. Not far away at all. Yet. Xavier called out to his X- Man.  
  
**Running again? ** To his disappointment, Gambit refused to answer the Professor. Not wanting to push the younger man away, Xavier left him be. At least he could tell Blaze that Gambit was physically fine. Pushing his concern for Remy aside, Xavier returned to the hotel in his mind. The trail of the would-be-assassin was difficult to find in such an envelope of white- hot emotion. Even now the party guests had left, the building still echoed fear and panic and anger in Xavier's mind. Charles sifted through the emotions until he found a trace of calm. Through Cerebro he followed the emotion, tracking the mutant who had felt it out of the building and into the night.  
  
Xavier found his quarry ready to embark an internal flight. A man, tall, brown haired and bearded but not old. With no heavy luggage, he carried only a small battered rucksack over the shoulder of his knee-length trench coat. Behind designer sunglasses the man smiled as Xavier brushed his consciousness.  
  
**An' somehow I knew you'd be followin' me, Xavier. Kinda disappointin' after you fooled me with that blue teleporter. Crafty, keepin' him on d'roof where I didn't register him. Tell the belle redhead I see her again soon... **  
  
The stranger was gone, closed off just like that to Xavier's mind. A telepath then, and one of some power. One who had learned to use his power to assess probable future actions of his victims? Xavier shuddered as he removed the Cerebro helmet, hoping that Blaze could at least cast a little light on the evening's events.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
"Ah Greyton Creed! What a pleasure to speak to you!"  
  
"You're very chirpy, Jacobi. Is there somethin' you should be tellin' me?"  
  
Alessandro Jacobi tugged his thinning mousy hair back into its usual tail at the back of his neck, a broad smile on his face. Things were coming along nicely. Finished preening himself he adjusted the laptop screen to get a better look at the crude head of the FoH.  
  
"Now now, don't pry Mr Creed. How goes business?"  
  
"Not well. Don't get me wrong; the trained troops you're loanin' me are more than satisfactory. But it's difficult to exterminate any mutant scum when we can't pin them down as to who they are."  
  
"So then, you come back to me my friend, hoping I may be able to sell you the desired information?" Jacobi smiled cruelly. Creed was hardly the type of man Jacobi would call a friend, but he was at least loyal in his business. And useful, Jacobi had to give him that. The world's mutants were now only a step away from being under Jacobi's thumb in terms of the supply of ace, a drug that not only improved ones powers but also gave the biggest confidence boost to the much-beleaguered mutant population. Now Creed gave Jacobi the means to start this long-brewing war, a name and organisation for his mercenary soldiers to fight under against the mutants. And with war full-blown on the streets, and the X-Men undoubtedly caught up in the middle, Jacobi would be left free to make as much profit, gather as much power as possible.  
  
"Can you do it?" Creed hated to ask Jacobi again. His own research into the crime lord's past said he had had as much to do with the mutant scum as anyone, even as far as working with them. But Jacobi was so useful to him, and backing the FoH with troops and money like no other businessman on earth had committed, so far at least.  
  
"Of course." Jacobi's voice came back smug over the video link. "If you promise to begin by exterminating certain X-freaks...."  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Gambit pushed the bike hard, weaving through the light early morning traffic as though the devil himself was on his tail. Under the tinted visor of his plain black helmet, his eyes were narrow and cold. Old wounds thought healed reopened worse than ever; pain contorted his face into a twisted mask as he fought back an overwhelming tide of memories. Around him, the day had dawned hazy but promising; sunshine that so contradicted his mood somehow seemed the most suitable of weather. In his cavernous coat pocket, the snip of deadly nightshade brushed gently against a pack of cards.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Blaze's morning didn't start well. After sleeping badly, she barely made it to the bathroom before she threw up. Dizziness swamped her and for a while the world spun. She didn't know how long past before someone's fist tapping on the door brought her around.  
  
"Alright already." She muttered, flicking the lock to open.  
  
"Bout time..." Logan snarled, eyes half glued shut with sleep he locked the door behind him.  
  
**Blaze? If you are up can we please begin with the images I took from Alex and Tabitha's memories? **  
  
**One minute, Professor, let me throw some clothes on first? ** He didn't argue so she went back to her room to dress. Leaving again, brushing her tight curls as she walked down the stairs, she almost bumped into Scott and Tsunami going up the stairs the other way.  
  
"Morning Blaze," Sun offered her fellow elemental a sympathetic smile. "Sorry to hear Gambit's run off, but I'm sure he'll be back soon." Blaze tried to smile, but she couldn't echo that sentiment. A lump rose in her throat as Tsunami offered a small slip of paper. "I did you a copy of the photo from last night. Its not bad either, even if I do say so myself." Blaze took the photograph in her shaking fingers, but couldn't bring herself to look at it right there and then.  
  
"Tsunami's leaving today, hotel room's all empty, just a few bits here to gather up." Scott filled Blaze in. True enough Tsunami could have stayed at the school, but both she and Scott hadn't been comfortable with that, not with Jean's memory still haunting the place.  
  
"It's been great seeing you again," Blaze offered genuinely. "I hope next time you visit won't be so chaotic."  
  
"Hey, me too." Tsunami embraced Blaze solidly then began sprinting up the stairs, followed by Scott. Still without looking at the photograph and trying to blank out the happy couple as they chatted away evenly upstairs, Blaze headed for the lift to the underground lair of the X-Men.  
  
Xavier was already waiting for her, putting the finishing touches to the e- fits of the faces from the students' memories. The sheer strength of the walls Blaze had thrown up around herself unnerved the powerful telepath as the fiery mutant entered the room. Time they had a talk...  
  
"I'm proud of you Blaze, for not charging off after Gambit, for knowing how much I need you here right now." She nodded her head slightly at his words, pulling up a chair, but didn't speak. Xavier continued. "But you can't keep the whole world at arms length like you are attempting to now, its just not healthy..."  
  
"I have to Professor." Her voice was sombre and drained. "I'll lose it if I don't, just like I did the last time someone drove Remy away and tried to kill me. Besides I trust you enough to know you'll be keeping an eye on him, it will be better all round if I let you call the shots on this. I just hope..." She shut up, eyes clouding over with frightened tears.  
  
"Hope what, Blaze?" Xavier encouraged gently.  
  
"I just hope its just another petty ex of Gambit's. First love or whatever, I can even deal with that. But if it's Jacobi pulling the strings..." Blaze closed her eyes. The Professor waited until she looked at him again, her emotional and mental barriers secure once more, before he answered her.  
  
"You are an X-Man now Blaze. Even if it is Jacobi, you no longer fight alone." 


	12. Scene 12

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I making any money from, the X-Men characters. Thank you to Corrinth for the loan of Ilehana Xavier. Blaze is, always has been, and forever will be mine, so there!  
  
A/N: Don't forget to review!  
  
Scene 12  
  
"This is the shooter from the hotel last night." Xavier showed Blaze the first picture, that of the telepath he had tracked only to find him waiting for him. "Do you recognise him at all?"  
  
"No." Blaze shook her head. "But I'll be sure to next time I see him." Xavier smiled as two tiny fireballs danced angrily in the air for a moment, before disappearing.  
  
"Very well, how about these men?" He showed her the four faces he had gathered from the memories of Havoc and Boom-Boom. There was nothing remarkable about any of the first three, though probably mutants they could pass unimpeded amongst normal humans and not even be noticed. Blaze looked carefully at them, committing their faces to her photographic memory before admitting she didn't know them.  
  
"But this one I do know." Blaze pointed to the last face, a rodent-like man with greying brown hair and overgrown teeth. "His name's Shrew, he deals in stolen goods, info, anything he gets told to do. He's never stood up to anyone in his life as far as I know. If he's dealing ace, it will be because he can smell out mutants, but someone else will be paying him to do it."  
  
"Smelling out mutants?" Xavier passed the image telepathically to his X-Men team leader. "Cyclops says this is the man that spoke to him at the airport too. Hum..."  
  
"Want me to go to Bobby's campus and check it out? I know Shrew, so long as I can find him I can get him to talk." Blaze offered, eager to vent some of her pent up emotions before she did some damage around the mansion.  
  
"Yes please," Xavier confirmed. "Bobby is to be released later today, and I'm sure he will have a few choice words for our ace dealer as well. Go to the hospital first and relieve Storm. If Bobby feels up to it, he and his friends may be useful in tracking Shrew down."  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
"You know the name of the main dealer now, Charles?" Magneto's voice was calm on the other end of the phone. Xavier knew it only hid a tumultuous stream of thoughts.  
  
"Yes, a mutant named Shrew. I have already sent Blaze to deal with him. With any luck, we will soon be rid of this chemical."  
  
"And you didn't see fit to consult with me first, Charles? I have one particular associate who will be able to get there much faster than your Blaze..."  
  
"I'm sorry if I've hurt your feelings, Eric, but after Mystique's outbreak last night I felt it wise to keep this within the X-Men." There was no humour in Xavier's tone, unlike that in Magneto's voice as he replied.  
  
"Ah yes, I am proud of her you know Charles. No matter how many mutants are thinking the same thing, that now is the time to make our stand, it is always a brave thing to be the first to say it in public."  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Across the country fury rose both for and against Senator Kelly's outbreak. All the news channels concentrated on violence from mutants and humans. In the hospital, Storm flicked channels on Bobby's TV, unable to settle to anything. Wasn't this the very reason why the X-Men had been formed, to stop all this before it got out of hand?  
  
"I'm sure the Prof's doin' all he can." Bobby Drake's voice cut across her angst. "And its not like any of this is organised yet, so who are the X-Men supposed to fight?"  
  
"Hey Iceman, Storm." A road-weary voice from by the door was Blaze's. "Everything okay?"  
  
"As well as could be expected, with all of this happening." Storm couldn't shake all that worried her.  
  
"Then you'll be glad to know the Professor is planning for some action soon. You're wanted back at the mansion, Ororo." Blaze threw her car key across the room to the white-hared mutant. "Scratch the paintwork on the Aston and the scientific world will be hailing indisputable proof of spontaneous human combustion." Blaze sat down heavily on the edge of Bobby's bed, accepting Storm's sly smile with a sigh. "Oh and fill her up for me too?"  
  
"Absolutely. Rest up, both of you, and stay out of trouble? I'm not sure which one of you looks worse right now..." With a whirl the weather-witch left the room, and Bobby put a hand on Blaze's shoulder.  
  
"Long day?" Was all he asked, but she only nodded in reply and shrugged off his cold hand.  
  
"The longest. You ready to quit this place yet? Hospitals only make me nervous."  
  
"Hey, you haven't been on campus yet, hospital's been a breeze in comparison." Bobby stood up slowly, working the crick out of his neck. His voice was subdued, his hurt obvious as he asked, "Did you hear about Rogue?"  
  
"Yes." Blaze responded, not meeting Iceman's eyes. They'd been her first friends at the school, Bobby and Rogue, though now she wouldn't want to single any of the X-Men out as being more dear to her then the others. The breakdown of their relationship had been very hard on Bobby, but now that Rogue even turned away from him as a friend when she needed one was visibly almost too much for him to bear. "She'll be alright though, Bobby. I know she will." Pausing for a moment she repaid the gesture of support he had shown her earlier, standing besides him and placing a warm hand on his shoulder. "Lets go see those troublesome friends of yours."  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
"'Course we'll help you track these losers down! I can't believe you even had to ask!" Tabitha was excitable, Blaze decided. She really didn't need to be babysitting an excitable teen today; especially not one even giddier than Jubilee was capable of. At least Havoc was taking this fairly serious, staring up at Iceman and Blaze in their matching uniforms with X-insignia so predominant.  
  
"You'll do as you are told?" Blaze demanded, "No heroics? And if things get bad you'll let Bobby and I do our jobs? You will get out of the way if it breaks out in violence?"  
  
"Absolutely." Tabitha answered for both of them, backed up by Havoc's nod. "When we getting going?"  
  
"About now works for me," Bobby replied, feeling worse than he'd let on. Rushed into hospital by his fellow students three days ago, now out again and off to save the world. Guess there was no time off for the wicked. Still he'd probably had longer in bed than Ilehana would have let him get away with back at the mansion.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
"No, really Scott. I have had a good time, even if it has been a flying visit, and I've hardly seen you..." Tsunami swung on Cyclops' arm as he walked her down the airport concourse. The couple exchanged smiles nervously; goodbyes were always hard.  
  
"Hey you!" A man's voice shouted from one of the shop entrances. "Mutants!" Scott pivoted on the spot, glaring at the man who shouted at them. But it wasn't Shrew who approached them, but a large muscular man dressed in military get-up that Cyclops vaguely recognised. Almost as soon as Cyclops turned to face the first man, more strangers gathered from every side, men in military clothes and civilians all wearing hate branded across their faces. "Mutant scum!" They cried to each other, surrounding Scott as he tried to protect Tsunami by hiding her behind him.  
  
"What do you want?" Cyclops called out, wishing he were wearing his visor rather than his civilian shades.  
  
"Ha!" A man spat in Cyclops' face. "The Friends of Humanity want you mutants to crawl back were you came from!"  
  
"Hey, calm down, how do you know we're even mutants?" Scott held up his hands in an appeasing gesture, noting that those dressed in civilian get-up seemed slightly unsure now.  
  
"The FoH knows everythin' about you X-scum, Cyclops! An' your little woman there! Get 'em boys!" And with that they attacked, hitting, punching, close body kicks that wouldn't let Scott lift his sunglasses and let off a laser blast. Tsunami screamed; dragged away by her hair from where Scott was valiantly fighting to protect her. Finally Scott managed to blast some of his attackers, but it only infuriated the others even more. Someone clobbered the back of Scott's head with a baseball bat, knocking him to the floor. Sun screamed again, terrified for her life as a man pulled out a twelve-inch blade from his coat sleeve. She didn't scream as the blade cut into her, instead gasping as blood poured down her chest, her lung punctured.  
  
"NO!" Cyclops cried out, dragging himself along the floor under the feet of their aggressors as the hate-filled humans began to panic and run. Scott barely reached Tsunami, barely put a finger to her hand before a FoH minion tried to finish the job with another fine-tuned blow to Scott's head. Everything went dark. 


	13. Scene 13

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I making any money from, the X-Men characters. Thank you to Corrinth for the loan of Ilehana Xavier. Blaze is, always has been, and forever will be mine, so there!  
  
A/N: Don't forget to review!  
  
Scene 13  
  
Sirens, shouting, crying... Scott coughed and spluttered as someone lifted his head so he could breathe.  
  
"Its okay, One-Eye, you're with friends." Ilehana's voice, calling him by the childhood nickname she still clung to like a security blanket. The name that meant no matter what changed between them, they'd both always remember what had been.  
  
"Tsunami..." Cyclops breathed, unable to open his eyes for some reason. Ilehana didn't reply, instead wrapping him in telepathic sympathy. Lying on the hard airport concourse floor, head resting on Ilehana's knee, Scott knew Tsunami was dead.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Music boomed loud from the club on campus, and Tabitha even risked a bit of a dance as the four young mutants walked. Blaze couldn't smile. Perhaps once, when she had been shot at, betrayed and abandoned once less often, she would have found the blonde mutant amusing and danced with her. But not tonight.  
  
Not so far behind the hideous university building, in the anonymous shadows of the night, they were approached by one of the men from the e-fits. Blaze stood back, acting the nervous young student on her first trip to buy ace. Bobby stood by her side; this was where Tabitha and Havoc paid their debts to him. The dealer recognised the friends, and simply cocked his head in the direction of the road as Havoc asked to see Shrew about more of the power-accelerating drug.  
  
Shrew's corner was away past the road, by a large still pond decorated with water lilies and iris that were turning bronze in the October cold. Shrew himself sat like a rodent-king on a decorative wall away to one end of the pond. The other two men from Havoc and Tabitha's memory couldn't be seen, but Blaze was sure they were about here somewhere. Their guide nodded towards Shrew just in case the mutants hadn't seen him, before leaving. Blaze supposed they didn't expect, or at least didn't care if they attacked Shrew. That was good news.  
  
"Shrew, old friend." Blaze crooned with venom in her voice after the guide had left. "What have we been up to?"  
  
"B-b-blaze?" Shrew had always been terrified of the smell of the fire- mutant, even before she had had control of her powers, and she knew it. Not letting him have the chance to scarper, Blaze used her remarkable agility to excellent effect, leaping to close the distance between the criminal and herself, closing one strong hand around his neck before he even had chance to squeal.  
  
"Very observant, Shrew. Now here's how this is gonna work." Blaze put a tiny taste of her power into the hand that gripped Shrew's neck, smiling coldly as he began to writhe under the heat of her hand. Vaguely she was aware of the other three mutants panning out besides her. Bobby would make a good leader of the X-Men one day, subtle and organised. "You are going to give me every last capsule of ace you have on your person. Then you are going to tell me where I need to go to destroy the rest of your horde. After we have that out of the way, you will tell me the name of the scum who has you fooling mutants into believing salvation comes in little silver discs."  
  
"T-t-then you'll let me go?" Shrew stuttered, a little hot under the collar. Blaze only squeezed slightly harder, fireballs dancing over her wrist just in front of his face. "Well, okay then... He wriggled again, but Blaze held him tight up against the wall, brown eyes burning. "It's like this, Blaze, I've sold all my stock today, some guy named Quicksilver, you know. If I had known you were coming to visit then I would've saved you some, but..." His sentence was cut short as Blaze squeezed so hard he gasped for air.  
  
"You wouldn't lie to me, would you Shrew? Because I'm not in the mood for lying, cheating scum tonight..."  
  
"No Blaze I swear! This guy called Quicksilver came about an hour ago and bought the lot, cash, for his boss. I-I thinks the boss' name was Misty?"  
  
"Mystique." Bobby offered coldly from behind Blaze's left shoulder. Blaze nodded her agreement.  
  
"Well then, looks like you've only one question left to answer, my little vermin friend?" She prompted, noting at the back of her mind that his shirt was beginning to smoulder but not withdrawing the use of her power one thread. It would do the underworld good to know she had come of age as a mutant at long last. She wanted them afraid of her.  
  
"I-I-I" Shrew sputtered, noting himself that things were getting a little toasty. "Well!" Blaze exclaimed, pushing back his forehead with her free hand until she had his throat bare, chin jutting skywards. Havoc and Tabitha shifted uneasily on the spot, glancing at each other. Bobby stood firm, trusting Blaze to stop before she killed the criminal mutant, but drawing a fist behind him to ready his power if it looked like his trust was misplaced.  
  
"Jacobi! Alessandro Jacobi's behind ace- the design, the marketing! There I told you, Blaze! Let me go!" With sudden gusto Shrew wriggled himself free of Blaze's distracted grasp and flew off into the night. Tabitha started after him, but Bobby's call to stand her ground tamed the blonde. Again Blaze's world wheeled, and she thought she would be sick. Shrugging off Bobby's hesitant calls of her name she stalked off into the night, alone.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
"What d'ya mean, we ain't goin' nowhere!" Logan roared at the Professor. "Those-those freaks killed Tsunami in cold blood, an' they'd have done the same to any one of us if we'd been there!"  
  
"Granted Logan!" The Professor near roared back. "But what good will it serve if we give all those terrified humans out there grounding for their fears? We must find the source of the armed men, the Friends of Humanity! We have to have a plan!"  
  
"You're fighting a pointless battle," Storm was the voice of reason, "Someone else has acted before us Professor." She flicked the remote in her hand, broadcasting the news over the tension in the briefing room.  
  
"And so at eleven fifty five tonight, the breaking news is that the mutant who calls himself Magneto has issued a call to arms of all mutant citizens of the world to unite with him against the terrorists called the Friends of Humanity. Further to Senator Kelly's outburst yesterday, Magneto has given a time and a place for what he calls the 'First Battle for Freedom' to occur. In a bid to prevent such an incident, the government has now outlawed the broadcasting of Magneto's message to the world's mutants. The call follows the murder of a unnamed female mutant at the airport earlier today..."  
  
"Where," Xavier asked his waiting X-Men, knowing someone would have checked the information as soon as they heard the news. "When?"  
  
"Tomorrow, or should that be today?" Storm answered. "Mutants are to gather before noon in New York. He's offering ace to any mutant who turns up, and he is confident that in this one battle the Brotherhood of Mutants can wipe out the human aggressors."  
  
"He'll draw them out of the woodwork, Dad." Ilehana offered, "Any human or mutant who has ever had a grudge against the other side will be there."  
  
"And through fighting he will surely only worsen matters, increase the hatred..." Already heading to Cerebro, Charles Xavier knew his worse fears were realised. He must first contact his absent X-Men, and then at least try to get through to his old friend...  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
**He hasn't got the ace for his battle yet, Professor. Mystique's new crony Quicksilver is transferring most of it right now. He's here in front of us, with Pyro and another mutant I don't recognise. **  
  
**Avalanche. ** Xavier confirmed. **You must stop them Iceman. **  
  
**Alright, but it wont be easy. They've already helped themselves to some of the supplies... **  
  
**I know you can do this, Bobby. Make me proud. ** The Professor signed off, reaching out to Kitty, Jubilee and Colossus with barely a flex of his telepathic muscles. Ready and waiting for his call, all three were soon on their way to New York however they could manage. He reached for Blaze next, but with a reflex firewall she drove her boss, her mentor and her friend away. Terrified she may give in at any moment to the tumult of emotions raging inside her, Xavier pushed harder, did she not know how much he needed all the help he could muster right now? For a moment he felt like he was getting through to her, but under the surface of the fire he came across a knowledge Blaze was trying so hard to deny even to herself. Could it be? Xavier pulled back slightly in shock, and an enraged Blaze slammed her mind closed to him in a way she had never done before. She knew what was happening, but she had her own demons to fight...  
  
Gambit walked alone in New Orleans, equally marvelled and repulsed by the city that had hardly changed in all these years he had been away. The smell, the sounds, the whole feeling of the city was that of girl growing old, trying to make herself a bride. Remy felt Xavier brush his mind almost shyly, but now wasn't the best time to be asking Gambit to be a hero. The rest of the world had faded to insignificance to the Cajun, even Blaze, and Xavier was left discarded in the street feeling like tonight the demons ruled...  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
"Things move better than I ever could have dreamed." Jacobi mused to his two employees. "And yet I am feeling strangely poetic, even melancholy. And I think that this is why. Remy and Blaze are so close to finally being dead, driven from each other and from their friends, and yet I will not be part of that moment..."  
  
In New Orleans, waiting where she knew Remy would find her, where he had always found her, Belladonna bit a nail angrily. All the years she had waited to have Remy to herself again, all this planning, and now Jacobi wanted to switch on them? On a university campus many miles away, her assassin partner Jacques had already sussed out Jacobi's change of heart, and found it appealed to the prognosticating telepath's wicked sense of humour. Put all the meat in a boiling pot, it was time to see them stew.  
  
"Bring them to me, alive, and I will triple your fee. I look forward to watching Gambit's face as he sees Blaze die and knows he could have prevented it all..." 


	14. Scene 14

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I making any money from, the X-Men characters. Thank you to Corrinth for the loan of Ilehana Xavier. Blaze is, always has been, and forever will be mine, so there!  
  
A/N: Don't forget to review!  
  
Scene 14  
  
"I know you guys didn't sign up for fighting, but how do you feel about helping me stop those guys?" Bobby whispered to his two student friends as they lay on the roof of a warehouse looking down on Pyro, Quicksilver and Avalanche loading a van with crates of ace. Well, at least they could see Pyro and Avalanche lifting heavy boxes as though they were pillows. Quicksilver they couldn't see at all, only the trail of disturbed rubbish and dust that blew around in the streetlights after his speedy passing. The ace the three mutants had taken was taking effect; their powers were accelerating. Bobby didn't know what he would do if Boom-Boom and Havoc refused to help.  
  
"You can always count on us, Iceman." Havoc answered in a low whisper himself. Bobby had explained what the Professor had shown him via Cerebro, and who were he and Tabitha to refuse to help. Tabitha only nodded her agreement, but she was sure they could do this.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Blaze found Tabitha's room again easily, benefits of a photographic memory. Putting a finger to the door handle she melted the lock, before shoulder barging the door open. Door closed again, hastily Blaze stripped off the X- Men uniform and changed into a pair of the student's white trainers, blue jeans and white sleeveless top. A small slip of paper she'd carried concealed against her skin inside the suit was now put in the jeans' pocket. She left the uniform on the girl's bed, it was Halloween soon after all, and maybe Tabitha could get some use out of it. Certainly it was too distinctive for Blaze's use anymore.  
  
Damn Xavier! How dare he reach out telepathically to her now! And like a disobedient child with a naughty secret she had reacting to his questing by owning up to a truth she had been denying to herself for weeks! And the good Professor had even been shocked! Was he that naive? Well, she had made her decision; with Jacobi back again to haunt her she must leave Remy and the X-Men to look after themselves. Rem thought he was good at running away? He hadn't seen anything yet...  
  
She forcefully pushed all thoughts of the Cajun out of her head, closing the door to Tabitha's room with a tug and drawing the heat out of the melted door metal until it was solid again and the door locked. She did it less for Tabitha's security, more to regain the energy for herself. The X- Men may tease her for the amount she ate each day, but it had been too long since she had eaten anything substantial and been able to keep it down. Downside of her high metabolism was that she couldn't last long at all without food, especially not if she was expending her power. Blaze rubbed the palms of her hands against the stolen jeans, rueing the energy she had spent on torturing the information out of Shrew. If she used her powers much more anytime soon, it would be her own body tissue that she burnt. She pushed that idea from her mind too; there were too many practical things she needed to consider without scaring herself even more...  
  
So it was Jacobi who had started the sale of ace, even as Magneto and Mystique ripped their claws into the program now. It had to be Jacobi who yet again was trying to have her and Gambit assassinated, no one else was so persistent in trying to have her shot. And if Jacobi were so involved in everything these days, Blaze wouldn't put it past her arch-nemesis to have chubby fingers in the FoH cake as well. Still, she had faith in her friends that the X-Men could stop all this. All she had to do was not get dead.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Ilehana took command of the X-Men almost fluidically as they prepared for the mission, the fight of a lifetime. Scott was confined to bed in the infirmary, sedated to keep him resting until his injuries were healed. Xavier Senior kept one finger of thought always on his wounded foster-son, as he himself sat prepared in Cerebro. He knew it was there he was of the most use, but something had changed in all the X-Men since Tsunami's murder, and for once Charles Xavier wished he could join his team and help hurt the ones who had killed such an innocent just because she was a mutant...  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
When the truck was almost fully loaded, Bobby and his friends made their move. His last orders to them, as they so easily accepted his leadership, were that whatever happened the truck and its cargo must be destroyed.  
  
"Hey Speedy Gonzales!" Tabitha cried out as she dropped to land on her feet from their perch by the van. "Try runnin' on this!" And with that she aimed fistful after fistful of exploding marbles at the trail of dust where Quicksilver had been running. At the same time, Havoc extended his palms and blasted Avalanche three foot into the air with a red laser beam. Iceman didn't have time to consider obvious familiarities as his old friend John faced him.  
  
"Give it up, Pyro!" Bobby challenged him. "You never could beat me!"  
  
"Maybe, once!" John spat back as Tabitha screamed, pummelled by the darting Quicksilver. The ground rumbled and the truck shook as Avalanche brought masonry down from the buildings around hem, near burying the slower-moving Havoc. "But that was before I used ace! Now not even that friend of yours Blaze could match me!"  
  
With that comment, Pyro began to change. His entire body developed a shimmering coat of fire, his eyes became translucent and orange, his expression one of hot anger. Fire, his own fire, not from some crummy lighter, danced around him, begging to be used to toast Iceman and his new friends. Pyro revelled in the feeling of power, everything Mystique and Magneto had told him was true, he was a God, and nothing could hold him back now!  
  
There was a blast of yellow light as the van exploded. Despite Quicksilver's best efforts, the white-haired young mutant now stood aghast after Boom-Boom had gotten one charge in through the open doors. Ace, it seemed, was easily flammable. Using the Pyro's distraction as his chance, Iceman tackled his friend to the ground, ignoring the searing pain as John's fire tried to eat Bobby up. In a brave show of his power, Bobby encased them both in hard ice, cooling the flames even as Pyro tried to melt the casing. They rolled together locked in combat, for every new breath of flame Pyro tried to release, Bobby drained all his reserves of power to prove that even without the mutation accelerator drug he could still beat John. Finally, with a crack the ice shattered, and both mutants gasped for air. John's eyes glazed over sullenly and Bobby let his friend drop against the ground.  
  
"Okay, what just happened?" Tabitha asked, pulling Bobby away from the still body of Pyro.  
  
"The ace lets mutants expand their powers, but doesn't give them the stamina or whatever to use them properly." Bobby gasped, pushing his hair back for his brow as he watched John's slow breathing. "Put them under enough of the right kind of stress for long enough and they'll wear themselves out."  
  
"Wow, wish I'd gone to your school," Tabitha commented, "That's clever stuff Iceman!"  
  
"Where's everyone else?" Bobby asked, looking round a little dazed.  
  
"Legged it when you beat Pyro." Tabitha put her head on one side. "Quicksilver and Avalanche anyway. I don't know where Havoc's got to."  
  
A slow blast of red light creeping through a pile of old bricks and mortar alerted Bobby to Havoc's plight. With a burst of energy he hadn't known he'd had in reserve, Iceman started pulling the bricks and rubble off his friend. Tabitha helped; putting more effort in than a small ox she grimly dragged Havoc out of the pile. Then, hearing sirens in the distance she looked up, eyes hopeful.  
  
"The police! Hey, over here!" She began waving her arms above her head to attract their attention.  
  
"Tabitha no! Don't you get it? If they are humans, they'll see us as dangerous. If any one of them is a mutant they will see us as traitors. We have to get out of here!" Bobby tugged Havoc's arm over his shoulder, a shocked looking Tabitha hooked the now unconscious mutant's other arm over hers. With Boom-Boom bearing most of Havoc's weight the three friends disappeared into the night, leaving the truckload of ace burning and Pyro unconscious on the ground.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Their long-disused meeting place hadn't changed one bit. Dawn was creeping over the horizon as Remy made his way through the graveyard, the only place that had ever been safe enough for a thief and an assassin to conduct their forbidden love affair. The air was still, like it waited with bated breath for something to happen. The trees around rustled as though whispering to each other in some forgotten tongue. It was as though he walked alone at the end of the world...  
  
She was waiting for him, like everything else unchanged by the passing of time. Standing to greet him, she swung a multitude of small, long golden plaits back over her slender shoulders. Wearing brown boots and trousers, her off-the-shoulder sleeveless top was dark green. But it was Belladonna's eyes that had always captured Gambit, tireless blue eyes that asked more questions of him than he could ever have answers.  
  
"You came." Her voice was colder than death itself, cracked by years of bearing a broken heart.  
  
"You good at your job, Belle. It don't do a man no good to run from you. May as well come find you as anythin'." He stopped walking several feet away from her still and met her eyes.  
  
"I'se not got a contract kill you, Remy." She lied though gritted teeth, but he seemed to latch onto her words like a last hope. "I only track you down to talk to you."  
  
"Why now? Why after all dis time, Belle? Seven years..."  
  
"Seven years without absolution, Remy." Her voice turned aggressive and she walked towards him, closing the distance to centimetres with purposeful strides. "Seven years of not knowin' why you did what you did. Why you left me on our wedding day!"  
  
"Belle you know why! I killed..." Remy tried to explain, but she cut him off.  
  
"I know what y'did! But you could've taken me with you!"  
  
"Chere, no! We were so young, an' the guilds wouldn't have let us live!" She turned away from him at that, her hand slipping in her tight trouser pocket. Gambit hesitated before reaching out to put a gloved hand on her shoulder, emotions boiling over.  
  
"That not it, Remy and you know it. We could've escaped the guilds, it been done before. It was you, too scared to make a commitment, even to the woman you said you loved!"  
  
"I did love you, Belle..." Why did his words seem so pointless, so hollow even to him. "But seventeen no age to be marryin'..." He didn't add that as far as he was concerned, no age was a good one to be making that kind of commitment without strong reason, but he knew he didn't have to.  
  
Belladonna pulled her hand back out of her pocket, clutching something small in her fingers.  
  
"I think I heard enough." She muttered, brushing a tear away from her cheek with the back of her clenched hand. "Maybe you do me the honour of takin' dis off me? It always belonged to you..." Turning she held out a gold ring, a plain wedding band. She'd kept it all these years? Hesitantly Gambit took the ring out of her fingers, feeling more than just the physical weight of it. He didn't know why he did what he did next, not putting it in his pocket as he'd thought to, but putting the ring on his finger where once he'd thought it might belong. It looked odd, slid on over his glove. He'd have to move it later. Looking up his eyes met Belladonna's and he instantly knew the trick she'd pulled! How could he be so stupid! Pain overwhelmed him, sent him crashing to his knees and Belladonna wreaked her revenge on him. Her mutant power, working through the ring that now he couldn't get off his finger, setting all his nerves on fire, making his red- on-black eyes ache and his muscles spasm.  
  
"Jacobi?" Belladonna spoke into a palmtop computer, one hand extended in Gambit's direction as she kept him in pain no where near as bad as that which she had borne all these years since he left her. "I got le Beau. We settin' off for the 'copter now." 


	15. Scene 15

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I making any money from, the X-Men characters. Thank you to Corrinth for the loan of Ilehana Xavier. Blaze is, always has been, and forever will be mine, so there!  
  
A/N: Don't forget to review!  
  
Scene 15  
  
With no food, no supplies, no money and no transport, Blaze ran. Past the university's sports field with high stands and dark floodlights. Over the perimeter fence in the opposite direction to the road and civilisation. Out into the unforgiving dawn, as she knew that somewhere her friends and colleagues from Xavier's school were preparing to fight for their lives, their ideals. She wished them luck, but all she wanted was to be left alone.  
  
She didn't get that chance. As the sun crept over the hillside above her, she knew she was being followed. Like a robot she clicked into thief-mode, trying every trick in the book to lose her pursuer. But every time she changed direction, used the land to hide her movements, even went to ground and hid for a while, a short while later the figure moved in the distance again. It was as though he knew everything she planned to do...  
  
...So she stopped planning. Why let him toy with her like a cat with a mouse? Stopping and waiting, Blaze ran a hand over her flat stomach as though mourning that it was so empty. The man who followed her didn't try to hide his actions, and he smiled amicably as he caught her up.  
  
"Mornin' Chere." The assassin named Jacques smiled an empty smile as he regarded Blaze over the top of his sunglasses. "Glad you gonna make dis easier on both of us."  
  
"What do you want with me? Can't you just leave me alone?" Blaze kept all emotion out of her voice; her words were a statement of fact.  
  
"I don't want nothin', Belle. Unfortunately, my employer wants to see you, so I have to bring you in. But it jus' business you know?" Jacques put his hands in his trouser pockets, kinking his knee-length trench coat back over his arms, confidence oozing like larva from a volcano.  
  
"Tell me this, is your employer a certain scumbag by the name of Alessandro Jacobi?" Blaze's brown eyes narrowed; empty as Jacques confirmed her fears with a wink and a nod. "Then I don't think I'll be coming with you, sorry and all..."  
  
"I knew you say that, Blaze. But I'se also know you don't got no choice."  
  
Refusing to use her firepower unless she really had to, Blaze leapt at Jacques with her unbounded agility, aiming a two-footed kick at his chest. Quicker than was possible he simply reached out, grabbed her ankles as they raced towards him off the ground, twisted them and therefore her whole body round and dropped her hard on the floor.  
  
"What the? Are you some left-over from the Matrix or something?" Blaze asked, trying to swipe the feet out from under Jacques with her leg, but he jumped her attack like a skipping rope, slamming down with his fist to punch Blaze in the face. Fortunately Jacques wasn't the only mutant with a few fighting skills and somehow Blaze managed to block his attack. But at the same instant Jacques cracked a solid kick to Blaze's ribs, sending her sprawling across the grass.  
  
"Give it up, Chere. I know what you gonna try next, an' I warn you that I can avoid a fire-blast without even gettin' my coat tails singed..." Blaze blasted him anyway, what else could she do? True to his word Jacques somersaulted over the low blast and grabbed Blaze by the hair in one movement. She didn't scream as he slammed a hard fist across her jaw, knocking her out. "Je suis désolé, Chere. It only business... For me anyways..." He pulled out a palmtop and dialled up Jacobi's base. "I got the fille, we on our ways."  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
The streets on New York City were more or less deserted. A few brave souls ran for cover as noon neared like the citizens of some God-forsaken western town. Only difference between this showdown and a western was that this was no film.  
  
Mutants had been converging on the city any way they could, the location of Magneto's field headquarters hardly the secret the government had intended it to be. As for the government, the police and the army, they were nowhere to be seen. A lone swat team had earlier that morning tried to turn Magneto into a martyr for his cause. Their bodies now lay stinking in the gutter.  
  
As the X-Jet flew in silently over the city, clouds gathered behind it like an omen. Rain began to fall, heavier and heavier, the forecast fine day driven away by Storm's power. She could only hope it would be enough to keep people in doors and out of harm's way. Ilehana's grip on the jet controls hardened as she spotted the marching FoH troops. They were too well organised to be your average hate-filled mob. Someone with money was paying these men to fight for this cause.  
  
**Jubilee, Kitty and Colossus are waiting for you on top of the tower block to the east. ** Ilehana's father distracted the meta-morph from her angry musing, bringing her back to the present task. Sure enough, as Ilehana lowered the jet slowly in the heavy rain, three figures dressed in black stood at respectful distance, waiting.  
  
Not too long later Ilehana addressed her full team aboard the Blackbird. Full, now there was a word with new meaning today, the scant few in front of her consisting for the most part of untried pups were supposed to stop the battle? She saw fear in the younger team member's eyes, felt it in their thoughts, as they looked up at her so unsure. It was up to her then to put their fears to rest. Vixen hoped and prayed she was up to the challenge.  
  
**You are my daughter, as are they. Have faith. ** Xavier pushed his support down the telepathic link between him and his daughter, feeling her strengthen as he did so.  
  
"Okay, here's what we are going to do. Some of you might be disappointed to hear it," She glanced at Logan pointedly. "But we are here to stop a fight, not to start one. Storm, this rain is great, for a start, but the weather needs to get much worse around here and quickly. If they can't get out of their buildings for snowdrifts, gales, lightning or whatever, they can't fight."  
  
"Of course Vixen." The white haired African nodded her ascent. She knew how much depended on her powers today.  
  
"Jubilee." Ilehana turned to the nervous young X-Man, hastily popping bubblegum in overdrive. "First of all get rid of that gum, this is a mission not a trip to the mall." The popping stopped, but Ilehana knew Logan was chuckling silently at how like her father she had just sounded. Oh well, there were worse role models..."Stay here with Storm, watch her back."  
  
"That's all?" The girl asked, not masking her disappointment.  
  
"Yes. But understand it is possibly the most important job I will hand out today. Storm's power will hopefully dissuade the combatants, but she will be blind to any attacks on her whilst she wealds the weather. You have to keep her safe. Also, you will have the best view of the city below from up here, you can keep us aware of the locations of both sides." Ilehana gave Jubilee a reassuring smile. "I know you will do us proud."  
  
The Vixen turned next to her teleporter and her... Ilehana wasn't quite sure what the term was for Kitty's power. Phaser sounded so 'Star Trek'. Anyway, of the three newcomers it was Kitty who looked the most at ease in her uniform for which Ilehana was eternally grateful.  
  
"Shadowcat and Nightcrawler, your mission will be to act as bait for the FoH. I'm sorry to put this on your shoulders, but we need to split them up, confuse them, make them think that they are being drawn on by Magneto's crew when actually we will be leading them away from the mutant rabble."  
  
"No problem." Kurt enthused, placing a blue three-fingered hand on Kitty's shoulder in support.  
  
"I'm not sending you out alone, Kitty." Ilehana offered. "I need you and Kurt to coordinate, but to lead groups of FoH off in different directions. Do you think you could phase Logan along with you?"  
  
"Yeah, like he's not that big, is he..." Kitty risked an uncomfortable smile in Wolverine's direction. Logan rolled his eyes skywards as he returned the jest.  
  
"Great, stick me with the Half-pint why don't you?"  
  
"Good, that's settled then." Vixen smiled encouragingly at Kitty, not quite sure who would be babysitting whom in this new partnership. "Colossus, you will go with Kurt, watch his back, and talk to each other people. Everybody's radios working?"  
  
There was general assent in the jet as earpieces were checked and re- checked. Storm had started towards the gangway to the roof when Logan spoke the question Ilehana had been waiting for.  
  
"An' what are you doin' to be up to in all this?" Ilehana placed a hand on his shoulder, knowing he wouldn't like what she was going to say. But when they were so few in numbers, it was up to the leader of the pack to take the biggest risks in the hunt.  
  
"I'm going to pay my Godfather a social call. Got any choice words for him?"  
  
"A few," Wolverine replied. "But not many I'd use round kids." Over Jubilee's protestations about being called a kid, he muttered words only meant for her ears. "Be careful. You need me, call."  
  
"You too." Ilehana squeezed his shoulder gently before releasing him and addressing her entire team. "Lets move." 


	16. Scene 16

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I making any money from, the X-Men characters. Thank you to Corrinth for the loan of Ilehana Xavier. Blaze is, always has been, and forever will be mine, so there!  
  
A/N: Don't forget to review!  
  
Scene 16  
  
Magneto was furious. His newest recruits had failed him. Even with the help of ace, they had not been able to prevent the X-men from destroying his shipment of the drug. And he had had such high hopes for them, Piedro most of all. Quicksilver stood abashed and sulking, as did Avalanche, in Magneto's usurped office room, waiting for the powerful Master of Magnetism's tirade. But Magneto didn't have time for such a waste of energy today. Let Mystique discipline the youngsters later, right now he had a war to begin, the war to end all wars...  
  
"Without the ace, we stand to lose many of our already nervous troops, but no matter. When we have defeated the Friends of Humanity today they will no doubt come flocking back to my side." He spoke more to himself than to his protégés. Mystique came to put his grey coat about his shoulders, and he was appreciative of her support. Avalanche shivered as her cold yellow eyes flicked to him and Piedro. Not that he thought Mystique truly cared for anyone but herself, but she had not been best pleased since Pyro had not returned with them.  
  
"Let us begin this." Magneto cut through the other's thoughts as powerfully as if he were a telepath. "And make a new future for mutant-kind everywhere..."  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Greyton Creed Junior did not address his troops with so much charm as his foe Magneto. They were well-drilled men, armed with the latest technology. His orders were barked, and carried out. Let his enemy choose the battlefield for this first encounter; Creed had no intention of letting a single mutant leave New York City alive.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Atop a skyscraper the air-goddess' eyes went white with power, her hair crackling with static as she raised her hands to beckon in the weather. Out to sea a dark squall was building quickly, storm clouds of heavy rain, sleet and lightning that would soon black out the morning sunlight across the city and pelt everything with harsh, hard winds.  
  
Rubbing her hands together in nervous anticipation, Jubilee watched Storm work with awe. Over the radio she could hear the others speak in abbreviated sentences as they coordinated their attack. The FoH had begun to move, spotted by Colossus marching in organised units down highways usually populated by bright yellow cabs and dispatch boys on bikes. Kitty and Kurt readied themselves for their first vital move, one to the front of the column, one to the rear, aiming to split the army in two as the single- minded orders of the FoH field command were followed to the letter- no mutants must survive.  
  
There! The trap was sprung! Jubilee was surprised to be able to see the darting form of Nightcrawler teleporting frantically above the troops as he dodged the bullets. Jubilee couldn't see Kitty, but she could hear over the radio as Shadowcat broke from her cover and ran headlong in front of the lead troops just as Nightcrawler's attack distracted them to the rear. Too scared to scream Shadowcat ran straight through the wall of a department store and into the protective embrace of the Wolverine. His voice was subdued as he tried to calm Kitty down, knowing the lead FoH troops would right now be searching for a way into the building.  
  
"Its alright Half-pint. You did good kid. C'mon..."  
  
At that moment Storm's squall hit with ferocity. Nightcrawler disappeared inside a building where Colossus was waiting, eager to be involved, metallic skin shimmering and uniform stretched to its full capacity as his body mass had increased. Kurt grinned as he spoke to his fellow X-Man.  
  
"Here they come..."  
  
In both buildings, FoH troops could suddenly be heard breaking and entering with force, their commanders bellowing orders that they find the mutants as quickly as possible. The few units left outside on the streets as their comrades went to work were suddenly swamped with a heavy shower of hail and sleet. Jubilee was impressed to see the grown men cry out and try to cover their heads as they were pelted to the point that their lines broke and they ran for whatever cover they could find.  
  
"Whoo-hoo!" She threw one hand in the air in celebration. "The FoH scum outside are all running away, guess they can't take Storm's shower!"  
  
"Great kid," Logan snarled back over the radio, "But tell us what good that does us when we are inside and cornered?"  
  
"Don't you know me yet, Wolverine?" Kitty replied, grabbing his wrist and putting her other hand to the wall. "I'm never cornered!" They fell backwards through the second story wall into the full maelstrom of Storm. With a scream, Kitty felt herself tumbling out of control. Logan grabbed the kid to his body; extending his claws he punctured the solid brick wall, dragging the adimantium through the bricks to slow their descent. Mortar and rubble fell around them, but at last they stopped falling and could drop safely to the ground as Logan retracted his claws.  
  
"Nice moves Half-pint." Wolverine glanced hastily about the streets, yelling above the heavy weather. "Give me a bit more warnin' next time though, okay?" xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
"Ready?" Kurt was perched on the top of the stairwell, looking down at the troops scurrying like ants up towards them. Behind him his teammate answered excitedly, adrenaline overcoming any fear the young man had felt.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
The first rain of bullets ricocheted off of Colossus' metallic skin harmlessly. Men cried out as they saw the weapons they relied on make no impression. Nightcrawler was away then as with the force of a small tank Colossus hit the first man, sending him backwards down the stairs like a domino. Nightcrawler gathered an armful of guns in quick succession as the aggressors tried to fend him off unsuccessfully.  
  
"These guns not nice toys!" Kurt exclaimed, "I put them away for you!" And with that he teleported up into the decorative dome at the top of the broad stairwell, lodging the weapons behind metal support struts. A bullet whistled past his ear suddenly, that was too close! Nightcrawler grabbed Colossus' shoulder in a firm grip and teleported them both back down to the bottom of the stairwell. In their hurry to turn around and follow their prey, the FoH got in each other's way, slowing themselves down. Kurt and Peter ran out onto the street and into the storm. Seeing Wolverine hustling Kitty their way, all four X-Men began running up the road, headlong into the bad weather that seemed to recede around them, but then regroup and pelt their pursuers with ferocity.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
It didn't take Ilehana long to find the mutant base. A hive of activity, the building Magneto had chosen was packed from foyer to rooftop with frightened, excitable mutants. Ilehana knew they felt that this was their only choice, that unless they took a stand with Magneto now, Tsunami's death would be the first of too many at the hands of the FoH. Vixen could only pray they were wrong.  
  
No one seemed unnerved or suspicious as Ilehana moved amongst them. They were all strangers to each other; Ilehana was just another unknown mutant. It suited her fine; she did not want to be branded a traitor. A quick brush of another's mind revealed that Magneto was above her in a first floor office. Ten seconds later the lift doors closed as she made her move unchallenged.  
  
"It seems my old friend Charles Xavier has begun his attempt to stop our war." Magneto spoke with contempt to Mystique as Ilehana approached the office door. The Vixen fumed to hear her father spoke of as if he were of no more consequence than a flea or a tick. "The weather-witch must be trying to make any fighting on the streets impossible. Take Quicksilver and Avalanche, see if you can't make the weather a little more amicable."  
  
**Jubilee! ** Ilehana called out telepathically, not able to speak into the radio as she dove for cover in a doorway, watching Mystique pass. **Call the others and regroup around Storm. Mystique, Avalanche and Quicksilver are on their way to you now! ** Vixen didn't wait for Jubilee's reply as she started towards the office where Magneto now stood alone.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
"Okay, guys, Ilehana says you gotta get back here, like now!" Jubilee was suddenly very aware that her purpose in this had gone from passive spectator, to the only force that stood between Mystique and her cronies and Storm. Behind her, Ororo's eyes were beginning to lose intensity, and her shoulders were beginning to slump as she burnt all her energy on maintaining the unnatural storm around them. Jubilee was very relieved to hear Logan's voice come back o the radio above the howling wind.  
  
"Alright! On our way. Nightcrawler?"  
  
The team linked hands as Kurt strained to teleport all four X-men to the roof of the nearest building. The blue mutant shuddered to see how far they had come across the city, how many roof tops he would have to teleport the team across to get back to Storm and Jubilee. But the brave and gentle man refused to complain, simply beginning his work with gritted teeth and ignoring the gasps from his friends as he moved them between places.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Bobby was near collapsed as he pushed the mansion's front door open. Tabitha resolutely supported the still unwell Havoc, knowing Bobby could barely keep his own feet under him without having to help her as well. The children that ran to their aid as they stumbled through the doorway did not ask questions. Havoc and Bobby received bodily support from some older teenagers, but she brushed the help off herself.  
  
"I'm fine, help them."  
  
"We have to get them to the infirmary." One of the older children took temporary charge. "The Professor's busy and no-one else is here."  
  
"Cool, a school with no adult supervision..." Tabitha muttered, "Really wish I'd come here..."  
  
In the labyrinth below the mansion, the children hoisted the two exhausted and injured young men onto slab-like beds. Not knowing what else to do, Boom-Boom covered them over with silver isolative blankets, hoping that someone with some form of medical knowledge would turn up sooner rather than later. Looking round the room, she saw Scott lying sedated on his own slab, and couldn't help but wonder how many more beds would be needed in the infirmary before the day was over? 


	17. Scene 17

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I making any money from, the X-Men characters. Thank you to Corrinth for the loan of Ilehana Xavier. Blaze is, always has been, and forever will be mine, so there!  
  
A/N: Don't forget to review!  
  
Scene 17  
  
"Ah, little Ilehana Xavier..." Magneto did not seem the slightest bit surprised to see the X-Man, whilst his degrading tone annoyed Ilehana to the core. "What can I do for such a lovely young lady?"  
  
"Quit toying with me, Eric." Her tone was calm and even, her eyes sarcastic as she stared her Godfather down. "We both know why I am here."  
  
"Of course. You are no doubt intending to appeal to my better nature, to call off this battle, seeing as your father cannot breach my defences?" He tapped a finger against the metallic helmet on his head. "You should know such appeals are useless. I know what I must do."  
  
"I would not appeal to you for so much as the time of day." Ilehana sniped back cruelly. "I am here to make sure you do not attack the Friends of Humanity, you do not start a war that will mean death to too many."  
  
"The war has already begun, Ilehana. You and your father's X-men strive to prevent the inevitable. Even if you should stop me today, what of tomorrow? Or the day after?" Magneto smiled altruistically at the younger Xavier.  
  
"There will be no battle today." Ilehana stressed, ignoring his comments as too stupid for reply. "Already your opponents are scattered and taking shelter, their attack falling apart. With no ace for your troops, those ordinary mutants downstairs are losing heart, how can they possibly overcome trained troops by themselves? With every day that passes and nothing changes, your support will wane like the moon through the month."  
  
"This banter may be amusing to you, Ilehana. But I grow tired of the bitter words of a child. Do what you must do, for not even the daughter of Xavier will keep me from my business today." Magneto smiled thinly as Ilehana's eyes narrowed. He knew as well as she did the nature of her powers. Whilst he wore that helmet, the only power she had was to meta-morph into an animal, a very time-consuming process during which Ilehana was vulnerable. But he had not counted on her endless training sessions with the Wolverine, not realised she was as strong in her human form as she had ever been. She attacked.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Nightcrawler's strength faded a short three rooftops from the jet, Jubilee and Storm. He collapsed, exhausted leaving Logan, Colossus and Shadowcat stranded as a black BMW M5 screeched around the corner and stopped outside the building on which Storm and Jubilee were stood.  
  
"C'mon, Kurt!" Logan snarled, forcefully lifting the blue mutant to his feet again. "That's Mystique and co, we gotta get movin'!"  
  
"I cannot..." Kurt muttered, slumping to his knees again.  
  
"There ain't no such thing as can't!" Wolverine snarled as Mystique and her cronies scuttled into the building like ants to anything sweet. Kitty shuddered involuntarily.  
  
"Maybe...Maybe I could move one of you..." Kurt slurred, unsure. "But then I would be useless..."  
  
"Whatever!" Logan near shouted, "Just get me over there!" Kurt took Logan's arm in a slack grip, concentrated for a moment, and then they were gone.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Magneto froze as Ilehana charged him with a look like pure malice in her eyes. She landed two hard body punches before he regained composure, launching simultaneously a computer monitor and an office chair at the younger mutant. Vixen ducked the monitor, but the chair hit her hard on the back. She bit her tongue, not wanting to let out the scream she felt. Before she had time to attack again, a filing cabinet taller than she was slid quickly across the lino floor to try and pin Ilehana against the opposite wall. With agility she jumped into the air, twisted and pulled herself on top of the iron cabinet. A well-placed kick to Magneto's head from that height sent the helmet he so relied on to protect himself from telepaths flying as if in slow motion across the room. Ilehana made her mind ready to invade his.  
  
**No, daughter. It is my responsibility. ** And so Vixen was forced to stand by in impatience as her father spoke telepathically to Magneto. At first it seemed as if Magneto would win through this ages-old contest of wills, and his cold smile crept back onto his face. But Xavier was not a fool, and the Professor had weapons a-plenty reserved for his old friend. Though Ilehana refrained from listening into what passed between them, she knew when Magneto's smile faded and his eyes filed with pain that her father had things well under control. She left without a backwards glance.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
"Stay there!" Logan shouted at Jubilee as she rushed forwards to help him with Nightcrawler. The blue mutant had passed out completely now, so Logan heaved him up onto his shoulder and deposited him in the Blackbird. Slamming the door control with a clenched fist, Logan sealed his teammate in as Mystique, Quicksilver and Avalanche appeared on the rooftop. The building shook.  
  
"So this is all the powerful X-Men could raise to stop us..." Mystique spoke with contempt. "Two aging has-beens and a little child."  
  
Jubilee looked from Storm who still tried her best to control and target the squall she had created, seemingly unaware of Mystique's arrival, back to Logan who held up his palm telling her to stay put. Swallowing hard she reacted in spite of herself as Avalanche again closed his eyes and caused the building to rumble.  
  
"Hey Mystique, maybe you should tell your sidekick to stop messin' with the ground! This buildin' comes down, we all die!"  
  
"Fair point, child." Mystique acknowledged, eyes yellow and cold. "Stop that Lance. And get rid of her."  
  
Jubilee squeaked as Lance smiled and bared down on her, pounding one palm with his fist. She put her own palms foremost and let loose a blast of her power. Avalanche yelled as the bright light hit his chest and blinded him, knocking him backwards towards the edge of the building. Quicksilver saw he was needed and ran to catch his associate. He made it, just, but Jubilee put in an extra amount of energy for good luck, stepping forward and shutting her eyes tight against the intensity of it. Both young men started to fall; the edge of the building giving way after it had been weakened by Avalanche's misguided attacks.  
  
"Looks like that 'child' done good, eh Mystique?" Logan snarled, "Lets do this."  
  
They'd fought before, but never in such rain and wind and darkness. Never with so much riding on the outcome of their battle, the Wolverine and the shape-shifter. And when she shifted into the familiar form of a lost loved one, into Jean Grey once more, Logan roared his disapproval and drove his adimantium claws home each side of Mystique's head. There she lay, pinned to the roof with Logan leaning over her, knowing that for today at least it was over...  
  
The jet's engine's started. Storm dropped exhausted to the roof, the bad weather died out suddenly. Kitty and Peter arrived on the rooftop with Ilehana as Kurt opened the Blackbird's door. Jubilee accepted the support of Kitty as Colossus scooped up Storm into his now-flesh arms and headed towards the jet. It took Ilehana's hand on the back of Logan's neck to get him to pull back from Jean Grey-Mystique. Ilehana didn't credit Mystique with a backwards glance as she guided her friend into the guts of the Blackbird. As they flew away, Ilehana at the controls once more, they skimmed past where Quicksilver and Avalanche hung on for dear life to the edge of the building. Nobody thought Mystique likely to give them a hand back to safety.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Alex woke with a start, finding a drip attached to his arm and bandages caressing his wounds. Not knowing where he was, his first cry out was wordless, but nobody answered. Hesitantly he tried to speak normally, tongue swollen and head fuzzy.  
  
"Hey, anybody there?" He gulped slowly, "Anybody?"  
  
"Yeah." A sodden voice muttered in a depressed tone the depth of which Havoc had never heard before. "Keep it down will you?"  
  
"Who's there? Where am I? What's goin' on?" There was fear in his voice that Scott couldn't put aside; he had to answer.  
  
"Xavier School for gifted youngsters, you're in the infirmary, you're safe." Cyclops couldn't keep those words from sounding bitter. Safe? What was safe anymore?  
  
"Is that? Cyclops, right?"  
  
"Yeah." Scott rolled onto his side despite the bruises, looking through tinted glasses at the young man on the slab next to him. "That's me."  
  
"I... I mean, I've been wanting to ask you...Shish this is hard..." Havoc shut his eyes and opened them again slowly, the bright light of the infirmary filling his vision with spots. "What's your real name?"  
  
"Why?" Scott was confused; this kid must have hit his head hard.  
  
"Just answer me okay?" Havoc snapped, anxious.  
  
"Scott Summers." Cyclops provided, anything for a little peace and quiet. For a moment it worked, Havoc was silent.  
  
"Scott?" He almost whispered, unsure and confused. "You're an orphan right? Scott Summers, your parents died in a plane crash?" Scott shut his eyes tight, trying to block out all too clear memories.  
  
"Yeah." He opened his eyes again, tears running under his shades despite everything he did to contain them. He didn't think to ask how this stranger knew so much about him; the idea never crossed his mind. "Alex?"  
  
"Brother..." Havoc muttered, reaching out and taking his lost sibling's hand in his own. 


	18. Scene 18

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I making any money from, the X-Men characters. Thank you to Corrinth for the loan of Ilehana Xavier. Blaze is, always has been, and forever will be mine, so there!  
  
A/N: Don't forget to review!  
  
Scene 18  
  
Blaze woke to feel salty air on her parched skin, a tough sea breeze tugging at her hair and her mouth as dry as the Sahara. Jacques held bottled water to her lips, most of it slopping down her front as she sought both to drink and to understand where she was. The noise was as intolerable as the desiccation of her throat, the throbbing rotary blades of a helicopter speeding across the Gulf of Mexico.  
  
**Here, take the bottle. ** Her captor communicated with her telepathically over the noise of the machine. **I'se don't want you dead before we get to Jacobi. **  
  
**Why? Jacobi's never wanted me alive before, why start now? **  
  
**It not about you, Chere. It about le Beau. Jacobi don't take no for an answer, le Beau watch you die before he die himself; Jacobi gets his revenge. **  
  
**Remy's with Jacobi? Then what's all this nonsense about Belladonna? ** Blaze's mind voice was cold, calculating. Jacques knew he'd have to watch this one.  
  
**Belladonna my...shall we say associate? No doubt she the reason we got dis gig, make le Beau suffer as much as possible... Don't matter one bit to me, the money good. ** He shrugged apologetically at her before staring out the open doorway, one foot dangling into space. Blaze closed her eyes, knowing the telepath was listening to her every thought. She didn't think he was as powerful as the Professor, it seemed he could only read the uttermost thoughts and emotions in a person's mind, and he used common sense to translate that into predicting what they would do next. A handy trait for an assassin.  
  
**You got no idea... ** Jacques enthused, enjoying the view as much as the workings of a stranger's mind. Blaze shut her eyes, intent on setting her barriers as she had done every day for so many years to keep her powers in total check. Meditation came quickly despite the setting, the circumstances. Jacques was intrigued, did she think she could keep him out of her head with this stuff? He had never seen anything so complex in another's mind before as Blaze set her safety points and reaffirmed her mental, emotional and mutant power barriers. He saw how low her power reserve had burnt, barely a spark now remained...  
  
So captivated was he that he didn't notice that Blaze had opened her eyes again before he had opened his. Blaze, cold, hard like she had never been before in her life watched him open his eyes reluctantly, wanting more, more knowledge of her, more power over her. He only knew the trick she had played when her voice shouted out above the roar of the 'copter's blades.  
  
"Predict this!" And she kicked him two-footed square in the chest. He grabbed at her in terror as he began to fall, felt the complete lack of emotion from the fire elemental as she evaded his frantic grasps. Then he was falling, tumbling head over tail from the helicopter as it flew too high above the water. Hitting the Gulf of Mexico at speed, all his breath was knocked from him. He was sucked underneath, and knew nothing more.  
  
Climbing out of her seat, Blaze went forward to watch the pilot and co- pilot silently. It was long enough before they realised she was standing over them, observing, memorising. They exclaimed to see her just as a very large, very expensive yacht came into view on the purple horizon. Blaze smiled.  
  
"You gonna take me in? Your boss Jacobi and I have an appointment." She yelled over the noise, grabbing hold of the back of the pilot's seat as he nodded and began his descent.  
  
She didn't wait until the helicopter landed by its mate on the yacht's helipad, instead taking a forward roll out of the machine as it hovered low, approaching the deck. She landed quickly, rolling to prevent injury, before standing and looking around her, scowl embedded on her face.  
  
The first thing she saw was Remy on his knees, hands behind his back, pain deeper than Hell across his handsome face. Her heart would have gone out to him, but she had begun denying what her heart felt in recent times. Behind him her nemesis, the man who had made her life a misery, made her live in fear, held a gun to Gambit's head. Jacobi.  
  
But it was not Jacobi who spoke to Blaze, but a stranger. A blonde woman with hair tied in many tight plaits, revealing outfit windswept and blue eyes as soulless as the blue sea around them. She also held a black revolver, and had it trained on Blaze's chest.  
  
"Belladonna I presume?" Blaze asked in a mocking voice. "You know, since I found out about you, after all these years of Remy not talking about you at all, I'd imagined somebody, well, attractive. Looks like I was wrong, maybe Rem didn't talk about you because he was embarrassed or something?"  
  
"You should know," Belladonna sniped back, readying her gun. "That lovin' Remy won't ever give you anythin' but pain." The blonde smiled cruelly. "An' n your case, won't get you nothin' but dead..."  
  
"L'amour pas par degré." Blaze said almost shyly, noting how her words threw not only Belladonna but Gambit as well. She took her opportunity, fire spinning like golden threads around her she punched Belladonna straight in the stomach, then knocked her gun out of her hand and overboard as it went off. The bullet ricochet harmlessly as Blaze dodged Belladonna's best effort to fight back, a low kick to the stomach. Blaze charged in then, too close for fists to make effective contact, shoulder barging the other woman into the wall of the yacht's rooms. Belladonna let out a gasp as she felt the full force of Blaze's pent up emotions, then slumped to the floor as Blaze thwacked her head against the wall in a seamless motion.  
  
"Nicely done, Blaze my dear." Jacobi's voice was hardly complementary. He pressed the revolver hard against Remy's skull, but something had changed with the Cajun as his ex-fiancée fell unconscious. The ring that throbbed on his finger went dull, relieving the pain. And Blaze knew what Jacobi had obviously never bothered to find out, that wire wrapped around the mutant man's wrists could easily be exploded, if he could only get a single finger to the bind.  
  
"Thank you." Blaze acknowledged, not glancing at Gambit in case she blew what he was trying to do. "But you know you have to die now?"  
  
"What you forget, wench, is that you are on board my boat. My boat policed by my people, the same force that have you mutants back in America so afraid of the FoH." Jacobi's voice was as smooth as ever, his eyes listless.  
  
"Where are they then, Alessandro? Are they invisible? Or did you want mine and Remy's deaths to be a private, sentimental affair?"  
  
Jacobi didn't get the chance to reply as Gambit blew up the wire that bound him. In a moment Remy was on his feet, slamming the gun out of Jacobi's hand and letting a bullet loose. It shattered into Jacobi's skull, and his body fell lifeless to the floor.  
  
"I'm outta ammo." Gambit was instantly aware that despite the victory over Jacobi himself, the guards that even now came running at the sound of a gunshot would not be easily defeated. The gun was empty, but more than that Belladonna had removed everything he could possibly charge with his mutant ability from his person. And she'd been very thorough.  
  
"Anything you can throw, right?" Blaze began by removing the ruby Amentha ring from her thumb, and then her four earrings, and the belly button stud piercing Mercury had given her. She'd only have to take it out in the end anyway. She placed the whole lot in Gambit's hand, noting the wedding band that had been on his finger already removed. She shook her mane of red curls and refused to meet his eyes as she accepted her own usefulness. "I'm no help, nothing left to burn..."  
  
"Then stay behind me." He forcefully pushed her to safety as the first guards saw Jacobi's crumpled body and began to fire at the two mutants. The gun he launched first, glowing yellow and orange its explosion took out the first three men, sending them crashing overboard as more appeared. Blaze ran to find more ammunition for her friend, pulling up chunks of Jacobi's precious boat and tossing them to her partner. Somehow they remained uninjured, somehow the rain of bullets missed and after a long while, no more men came.  
  
Gambit slumped to the floor, exhausted, haggard by the hell Jacobi and Belladonna had put him through the last few hours before Blaze came... Blaze wrapped her arms around him tightly, pulling his body's warmth to her in dire need and anguish. She finally let a single tear fall as she crouched there with him, knowing it would be the last time she felt his strong arms around her, smelt his sweet masculine smell, heard his breath moving in and out of him...  
  
"The Professor says the Blackbird is on its way to pick you up." He looked at her quickly as she spoke, knowing that there was some hidden meaning in those words but not quite able to place it. "I'm leaving Remy..."  
  
"No, Chere, Laura..." He tried to hold onto her, but she placed her lips on his too briefly then pulled away.  
  
"I can't do this anymore. I can't live this life. I need to find a quiet place, be myself, where nobody wants to kill me..." There were sobs in her voice, tears flowing freely over her cheeks.  
  
"But Jacobi dead..." Remy pulled her to him again, burying his face in her soft red hair. "You don't need to be afraid anymore..."  
  
Blaze choked up, should she tell him anymore? Had he perhaps already guessed? The day he'd come back from assignment, she'd fooled everybody else that she was in a bad mood because she had too cook for so many. But Gambit knew that she loved cooking, especially for large numbers, as much as she loved food itself... Could he have guessed what she had found out that day? But no, the look in his eye said he still had no clue. It was better this way, she was sure...  
  
"I have to go. The darkest hearts bare their secrets alone." She stood, unravelling herself from his strong grip, not even daring to look back as she walked away, for if she did she would never have the strength to do this. A short while later a helicopter buzzed overhead, and Blaze was gone. 


	19. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I making any money from, the X-Men characters. Thank you to Corrinth for the loan of Ilehana Xavier. Blaze is, always has been, and forever will be mine, so there!  
  
A/N: Last chapter of the last part of my trilogy, I hope you have all enjoyed this as much as I have writing it? I am really pleased with this story, and its come together quicker than either of the other two. I'd really appreciate any comments you have on part or all of the series? And yes, Blaze will be back in a short ficlet of mine, before she makes another extended appearance in Corrinth's Guardians of Destiny. Thank you all in the meantime; your comments, emails and reviews are all very much appreciated. Lamby  
  
Epilogue  
  
For some months Gambit had refused to speak of the events on Jacobi's boat and before it. His eyes were the only windows to the pain he had suffered, the emotions he battled day by day. Even after Belladonna's trial, which he had refused to attend, was over he would not mention her name. And as for Blaze, she haunted him like a phantom, her laughter mingling with her former students over the foosball table, her music in every stereo turned up too loud. Charles Xavier watched and waited, confident that one day his X-Man would be ready to speak.  
  
One day, much like all the others before it, there came the knock on Xavier's office that he had long been hoping for. Gambit entered hesitantly, and for a while they spoke of simple things, the work of the X- Men in preparing for the next assault of the FoH or Brotherhood of Mutants. Of Scott's joy at re-discovering his long-lost brother that saved him from who knew what after the loss of Tsunami so soon after losing Jean. Of the progress of absent friends, the university students of whom Xavier was so proud.  
  
The conversation stalled there for a moment, both lost in their own thoughts, before Blaze's name was mentioned.  
  
"I don't know why she did it." Gambit stated, matter of fact in tone though not in thought. "Why she leave us, why she leave me..."  
  
"Why does Blaze mean so much to you, Gambit? You let so few people anywhere near you, why her?" Xavier answered Remy's question with a question of his own. Gambit sighed, pushing a hand back through his mop of hair.  
  
"She never tried to change me. Everybody else, my foster parents, d'guild..." He would not name Belle, but he included her forcefully in the next bracket. "All d'girls I'se dated... They all want somethin', want a different Gambit... Blaze never did that, she took me as I come."  
  
"And so she committed herself to never being anything more than your friend?" Xavier prompted. Gambit nodded.  
  
"But I always there for her. Always. Maybe you could tell her dat?" He stood and left, heading for his bike and the open road to clear his head. Xavier headed himself for Cerebro...  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
The redhead ran her long fingers over the leather of the steering wheel, rearranging the photograph she kept stuck to the dash of her convertible wreck with the other hand as the lights stayed on red. A tall handsome man and a slender young woman, both dressed to impress smiled bashfully back at her. Blaze leant back into the seat as she felt Xavier brush her mind, enjoying the warmth of the L.A. sun on her skin. Remy's words relayed to her struck an emotional cord, and she felt justification that Xavier had not expected.  
  
She had left the X-Men because she was afraid. She couldn't live that life, couldn't do what she had to do whilst trying to be a superhero. She had too much to lose now to be any good at that. And if Remy felt she was the only one to never try and change him, then she was justified in leaving him too. How could she force him to change, if she cared about him how could she not at least try and protect him? This way, she protected the two people that meant the most in the world to her...  
  
The traffic light changed to green, and Blaze shifted the car into drive. Absently missing her pet Aston Martin, she placed a hand on her swollen belly, smiling contentedly as the baby inside her kicked just once... 


End file.
